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1.101.  e     »to 


' 


m 


! 


_k.  L 


GENERAL 


BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


A  NEW  EDITION. 


« 


VOL..  V. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


The  Pablick  are  respectfully  informed  that 

VOLUME  SIXTH 

of  the 

BIOGRAPHICAL-  PICTIONARY 

^  '  t^ill  be  publisjied  on ,  ftonday,  NoTejniBqr.  Jj|^         , 
4nd  the  subsequent  Volumes  every  Two  Months. 

This  change  iti  the  periods  of  Publication  has  beei/ 
found  absolutely  necessary,  from  the  accumulation  of  New 
Lives,  and  the  imperfect  state  in  which  many  of  the  old 
ones  were  given  in  the  former  Edition,  The  Volume 
now  before  the  Reader  affords  a  striking  instance  of  how 
much  is  wanted  to  render  .the  Work,  what,  in  the  present 
state  of  biographical  materials,  it  ought  to  be.  Of  THREE 
HUNDRED  AND  FORTY  SEVEN  Lives  in  this  Volume,  TWO 

HUNDRED  AND  FOURTEEN  are  NeW,  SIXTY  EIGHT  are  RE- 
WRITTEN, and  SIXTY  FIVE  only  have  been*  retained  from 
the  former  Edition,  the  greater  part  of  which  have  required 
many  additions  and  alterations..  The  Editor,  therefore, 
hopes  that  his  anxiety  to  render  the  Biographical  Dic- 
tionary more  complete  and  useful,  will  reconcile  the 
Publick  to  this  change  in  the  mode  of  Publicajion,  which, 
while  it  does  not  materially  lessen  his  labours,  will  at  least 
afford  time  to  fulfil  his  future  engagements  without  in* 
terruption. 

September  1,  1812. 


THE  GENERAL 

BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY: 

CONTAINING 

AN  fflSTORICAL  AND  CRITICAL  ACCOUNT 

OF   THB 

LIVES  AND  WRITINGS 

OF  THK 

MOST  EMINENT  PERSONS 

IN   EVERY  NATION; 

PARTICULABLT  THE  BRITISH  AMD  IRISH  i 
FROM  THE  EARI<IEST'ACCOUMTS  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME* 


,     .  A  NEW  EDITION, 

REVISED  AND   ENLARGED   BY 

ALEXANDER  CHALMERS,  F.  S.  A. 


VOL.  V. 


LONDON: 


wmnmui  for  j.  michols  and  son  ;   f.  c.  and  j.  ritinqton  }  t.  payne  ) 

W.  OTRIDGE  AND  SON ;  O.  AND  W.  NICOL  ;  WiUUE  AND  ROBINSON^  | 
3.  WALKER ;  R.  LEA  ;  W.  LOWNDES ;  WHITE,  COCHRANE^  AND  CO.  ; 
J»,  OEIOIITON ;  T.  EGERTON;  LACKINGTON,  ALLEN,  AND  CO.  ;  J.  CARPENTER  | 
LONGMAN,  HURST,  RER8,  ORME,  AND  BROWN  ;  CADELL  AND  DA  VIES  ;  C.  LAW  ; 
J.  BOOKER  ;  J.  CUTHELL;  CLARKE  AND  SONS;  J.  AND  A.  ABCH  ;  J.  HARRIS; 
BLACK,  PARRY,  AND  CO. ;  J.  BOOTH  ;  J.  MAWMAN  ;  GALE  AND  CURTIS  ; 
B.  H.  EVANS;  J.  HATCpARp;  |.  HARDING;  R.  BALDW^V^^^  MURRAY;  J.  JOHN- 
SON AMD  CO. ;  £.  BRJMKIY  ^  ^OIB.  Jk  IfMyi.Iffg. 

1812. 


^II—IM  ■    W 


Ntdholfl,  8oit»  and  Bentlej,  Printerst 


A  NEW  AND  GENERAL 


BIOGRAPHICAL  DICTIONARY. 


JoENVENUTI  (Charles),  an  Italian  Jesuit,  physician, 
and  mathematician  of  considerable  eminence,  was  born  at 
Leghorn,  Feb.  8,  1716.     He  began  his  noviciate  among 
the  Jesuits  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  but  did  not  take  the  four 
Tow^,  according  to  the  statutes  of  that  order,  until  eighteen 
years  afterwards.     He  had  already.published  a  funeiai  ora- 
tion  on   Louis  Ancajani,  bishop  pf  Spoleto,  1743,  and  a 
species  of  oratorio,  to  be^i^  t(r\ipusic,  entitled  *^  Cristo 
presentato  al  tempio,'*  but'  .#>wa^ueither  as  an  orator  or 
poet  that  he  was  destined:  to  shi^^  yj^e  became  professor 
of  philosophy  at  Fermop'and  when  fisther  Boscovich  was 
obliged  to  leave  Rome  tpVcqinplete  the  chorographical 
chart  of  the  papal  state,  which,! hV  published' some  years 
afterwards,  Benvenuti  succeeded  him  in  the  mathemati- 
cal chair  of  the  Roman  college,  and  also  resumed  his  lec- 
tures on  philosophy  in  the  same  college.     His  first  scientific 
work  was  an  .Italian  translation  of  Clairaut's  Geometry, 
Rome,  1751,  8vo  ;  and  he  afterwards  published  two  works,, 
which  gained  him  much  reputation :  1.  '^  Synopsis  Physical 
g^neralis,V  a  thesis  maintained  by  one  of  his  disciples, 
the  marquis  de  Castagnaga,  on  Benvenuti's  principles, 
which  were  those  of  sir  Isaac  Newton,  Rome,  1754,  4to. 
2.  **  De  Lumine  dissertatio  physica,'*  another  thesis  main- 
tained by  the  marquis,  ibid.  1754,  4to«     By  both  these  he 
contributed  to  establish  the  Newtonian  system  m  room  of 
those  fallacious  principles  which  had  so  long  obtained  in 
that  college ;  but  it  must  not  be  concealed  that  a  consider- 
able part  of  this  second  work  on  light,  belongs  to  father 
Boscovich,  as  Benvenuti  was  taken  iu  before  be  had  comr 
pleted  it,  and  after  it  was  sent  to  press*    After  the  expul* 
VOL.V.  B 


2  BENVENUTL 

'  sion  of  the  Jesuits,  there  appeared  at  Rome  an  attack 
upon  them,  entitled  ^^  Riflessioni  sur  Gesuitismo/'  1772, 
to  which  Benvenuti  replied  in  a  pamphlet,  entitled  "  Irre- 
flessioni  sur  Gesuitismo  -/'  but  this  answer  gave  so  much 
offence,  that  he  was  obliged  to  leave  Rome  and  retire  into 
Poland,  where  he  was  kindly  received  by  the  king,  and 
became  a  favourite  at  his  court.  He  died  at  Warsaw,  in 
September,  1789.* 

BENVENUTI  (Joseph),  an  Italian  surgeon,  or  rather 
physician,  was  born  in  the  territory  of  Lucca,  about  the 
year  1728.  He  received  the  degree  of  doctor,  began 
practice  at  Sarzano  in  1755,  as  a  member  of  the  faculty ;  in 
1756  was  chosen  member  of  the  German  imperial  society  ; 
and  in  1758  of  the  royal  society  of  Gottingen,  while  he 
was  practising  at  the  baths  of  Lucca.  In  1753,  he  hap* 
peued  to  be  at  a  place  in  that  republic,  called  Brandejglio, 
where  an  epidemic  fever  of  a  particular  kind  prevailed, 
which  he  treated  with  great  success  by  means  of  mercury. 
This  formed  the  subject  of  bis  treatise,  entitled  '^  Disser-* 
tatio  historico^epistolaris,  &c.^'  Lucca,  17549  8vo,  ably  de- 
fending the  preference  he  found  it  necessary  to  give  to 
mercury  over  the  bark,  and  vindicating  Dr.  Bertini,  of 
whom  he  learned  that  method,  against  certain  opponents. 
BenvenutPs  other  works  are,  I.  ^^  De  Lucensium Therma- 
rum  sale  tractatus,"  Lucca,  1758,  8vo.  This  he  also  transr- 
lated  into  Italian,  with  a  lettei*  on  the  virtues  of  these 
waters.  2*  ^*  Riflessioni  sopra  gli  effetti  del  moto  a  ca- 
vallo,"  Lucca,  1760,  4to.  3.  ^'  Dissertatio  physica  de 
Lumine,'^  Vienne,  1761,  4to.  4.  ^' De  rubiginis  frumentum 
corrumpentis  causa  et  medela,^*  Lucca,  1762»  5.  ^^  Ob« 
servationum  medicarum  quae  anatomiae  superstructas  sunt,- 
coUectio  prima,''  Lucca,  1764,  12mo.  He  also  promoted 
the  publication  of  the  first  volume  of  the  ^^  Dissertationes 
et  Quaestiones  medic88  magis  celebres,"  Lucca,  1757,  8vo. 
Our  authority  does  not  give  the  date  of  his  death. ' 

BENYOWSKY  (Count  Mauritius  Augustus  de),  an 
adventurer  of  very  dubious,  but  not  uninteresting  charac- 
ter, one  of  the  Magnates  of  the  kingdoms  of  Hungary  and 
Poland,  was  born  in  the  year  1741>  at  Verbowa,  the  here- 
ditary lordship  of  his  family,  situated  in  Nittria,  in  Hun- 
gary. After  receiving  the  education  which  the  court  of 
Yieuna  affords 'to  the  youth  of  illustrious  families,  at  the 

1  £iof .  UniTcrseU^.— Diet.  Hist.  •  IbiiL 


"t 


B  E  N  Y  O  W  S  K  Y*         ^  S 

age  of  fourteen  years^  he  fixed  on  the  profession  of  arms. 
He  was  accordingly  received  into  the  regiment  of  Siebens- 
cbien,  in  quality  of  lieutenant;  and  joining  the  Imperial 
army,  then  in  the  field  against  the  king  of  Prussia,  was 
present  at  the  battles  of  Lowositz^  Prague^  3chweidnitz, 
and  Darmstadt.     In  1758,  he  quitted  the  Imperial  service 
and  hastened  into  Lithuania,  at  the  instance  of  his  uncle 
the  starost  of  Benyowsky,  and  succeeded  as  his  heir  to  the 
possession  of  his  estates.     The  tranquillity,  however,  which 
he  now  enjoyed  was  interrupted  by  intelligence  of  the  sud- 
den  death  of  his  father,  and  that  his  brothers-in-law  had 
taken  possession  of  his  inheritance.     These  circumstances 
demanding  his  immediate  presence  in  Hungary,  he  quitted 
Lithuania  with  the  sole  view  of  obtaining  possession  of  the 
property  of  his  family  ;  but  his  brothers-in-law  by  force 
opposed  his  entrance  into  his  own  castle.     He  then  re- 
paired to  Krussava,  a  lordship  dependant  on  the  castle  of 
Verbowa,  where,  after  having  caused  himself  to  be  ac- 
knowledged by  his  vassals,   and   being  assured  of  their 
fidelity,  he  armed  them,  and  by  their  assistance  gained 
possession  of  all  his  effects ;  but  bis  brothers,  having  re- 
presented him  at  the  court  of  Vieniia  as  a  rebel  and  dis- 
turber of  the  public  peace,  the  empress  queen  issued  a 
decree  iu  chancery  against  him,  by  which  he  was  deprived 
of  his  property,  and  compelled  to  withdraw  into  Poland. 
He  now  determined  to  travel ;  but  after  taking:  several 
voyages  to  Hamburgh,  Amsterdam,  and   Plymouth,  with 
intention  to  apply  himself  to  navigation,  he  received  let- 
ters from  the  magnates  and  senators  of  Poland,  which  in- 
duced him  to  repair  to  Warsaw,  where  he  joined  the  con- 
federation then  forming,  and  entered  into  an  obligation, 
upon  oath,  not  to  acknowledge  the  king,  until  the  con- 
federation, as  the  only   lawful*  tribunal   of  the   republic, 
should  have  declared  him  lawfully  elected  ;  to  oppose  the 
Russians  by  force  of  arms ;  and  not  to  forsake  the  colours 
of  the  confederation  so  long  as  the  Russians  should  remain 
in  Poland.     Leaving  Warsaw,  in  the  month  of  December, 
falC  attempted   to  make  his  rights  known  at  the  court  of 
Vienna ;  but  disappointed  in  this  endeavour,  and  deprived 
of  all  hope  of  justice,  he  resolved  to  quit  for  ever  the  do*- 
minions  of  the  house  of  Austria.     On  bis  return  to  Poland, 
be  was  attacked,  during  his  passage  through  the  county  of 
Zips,  with  a  violent  fever;  and  being  received  into  the 
bouse  of  Mr»  Heusky,  a  gentleman  of  distinction^  be  paid 

B  2 


4  BENYOWSKY. 

his  addresses  and  was  married  to  one  of  his  three  daugh<- 
ters,  but  did  not  continue  long  in  possession  of  happiness 
or  repose.  The  confederate  states  of  Poland,  a  party  of 
.whom  had  declared  themselves  at  Cracow,  observing  that 
the  count  was  one  of  the  first  who  had  signed  their  unioir 
at  Warsaw,  wrote  to  him  to  join  them ;  and,  compelled  by 
the  strong  tie  of  the  oath  he  had  taken,  he  departed  with- 
out informing  his  wife,  and  arrived  at  Cracow  on  the  very 
day  count  Panin  made  the  assault  He  was  received  widhk 
open  arms  by  martial  Czarnesky,  aud  immediately  ap- 
pointed colonel  general,  commander  of  cavalry,  and  quar- 
ter-master-general. On  the  6th  of  July  1768,  he  was  de-^ 
tached  to  Navitaig  to  conduct  a  Polish  regiment  to  Cracow, 
and  he  not  only  brought  the  whole  regiment,  composed  of 
six  hundred  men,  through  the  camp  of  the  enemy  before 
the  town,  but  soon  afterwards  defeated  a  body  of  Russians 
at  Kremenka;  reduced  Landscroen,  which  prince  Lubo- 
mirsky,  who  had  joined  the  confederacy  with  two  thousand 
regular  troops,  had  attempted  in  vain ;  and,  by  his  great 
gallantry  and  address,  contrived  the  means  of  introducing 
supplies  into  Cracow,  when  besieged  by  the  Russians: 
but  the  count,  having  lost  above  sixteen  hundred  men  in 
affording  this  assistance  to  the  town,  was  obliged  to  make 
a  precipitate  retreat  the  moment  he  had  effected  his  pur- 
pose; and  being  pursued  by  the  Russian  cavalry,  com- 
posed of  cossacks  and  hussars,  he  had  the  misfortune  to 
have  his  horse  killed  under  him,  and  ,fell  at  last,  after  re- 
ceiving two  wounds,  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Apraxin, 
the  Russian  general,  being  informed  of  the  successful  ma- 
nceuvre  of  the  count,  was  impressed  with  a  very  high  opi- 
nion of  him,  and  proposed  to  him  to  enter  into  the  Russian 
service;  but  rejecting  the  overture  with  disdain,  he  was ^ 
only  saved  from  being  sent  to  Kiovia  with  the  other  prisoners 
by  the  interposition  of  his  friends,  who  paid  962  /.  sterling 
for  his  ransom.  Thus  set  at  liberty,  he  considered  himself 
as  released  from  the  parole  which  he  had  given  to  the  Rus- 
4sians ;  and  again  entering  the  town  of  Cracow,  he  was  re* 
ceived  with  the  most  perfect  satisfaction  by  the  whole  con- 
federacy. The  town  being  no  longer  tenable,  it  became  an 
ofagect  of  the  utmost  consequence  to  secure  another  place  of 
retreat;  and  the  count,  upon  his  own  proposal  andrequest^ 
was  appointed  to  seize  the  castle  of  Lublau,  situated  on  the 
frontier  of  Hungary;  but  after  visiting  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  castle,  who  was  not  apprehensive  of  the  least 


BENYOWSKY.  5 

^nger,  and  engaging  more  than  one  half  of  the  garrison 
by  oath  in  the  interests  of  the  confederation,  an  inferior 
officer,  who^was  dispatched  to  assist  him,  indiscreetly  di- 
vulged the  design,  and  the  count  was  seized  and  carried 
into  the  fortress  of  Georgenburgh,  and  sent  from  thence 
to  general  Apraxin.     On  his  way  to  that  general,  however, 
he  was  rescued  by  a  party  of  confederates,  and  returned 
to  Lublin,  a  town  where  the  rest  of  the^  confederation  of 
Cracow  had  appointed  to  meet,  in  order  to  join  those  of 
Bar,  from  which  time  he  performed  a  yarie^  of  gallant 
actions,  and  underwent  great  vicissitudes  of  fortune.     On 
the   19th'  of  May,   the  Russian  colonel  judging  that  the 
count  was  marching  towards  Stry,  to  join  the  confederate 
parties  at  Sauok,  likewise  hastened  his  march,  and  arrived 
thither  half  a  day  before  the  count,  whose  forces  were 
weakened  by  fatigue  and  hunger.     In  this  state  he  was  at- 
tacked about  noon  by  colonel  Brincken,  ait  the  head  of  four 
thousand   men.      The  count  was  at    first  compelled   to 
give  way;  but,  on  the  arrival  of  his  cannon,  he,  in  his 
turn^  forced  the  colonel  to  retire,  who  at  last  quitted  the 
field,  and  retreated  towards  Stry.     The  advantage  of  the 
^victory  served  only  to  augment  the  misery  of  the  Count, 
who  iivthis  single  action  had  three  hundred  wounded  and 
two  hundred  and  sixty-eight  slain,  and  who  had  no  other 
prospect  before  him  than  either  to  perish  by  hunger  with 
bis  troops  in  the  forest,  or  to  expose  himself  to  be  cut  to 
pieces  by  the  enemy.     Oh  the  morning  of  the  20th,  how* 
ever,  by  the  advice  of  his  officers  and  troops,  he  resumed 
his  march,  and  arrived  about  ten  o'clock  at  the  village  of 
S^uka,  where,  being  obliged  to  halt  for  refreshment,  he  was 
surprised  by  a  party  of  cossacks,  and  had  only  time  to  quit  the 
village  and  form  his  troops  in  order  of  battle  on  the  plain,  • 
before  he  was.  attacked  by  the  enemy's  cavalry,  and  soon 
after  by  their  infantry,  supported  by  several  pieces  of  can- 
non,  which   caused  the   greatest  destruction   among  his 
forces.     At  length,  after  being  dangerously  wounded,  the 
Russians  took  him  prisoner.     The  count  was  sent  to  the 
.  commander  in  chief  of  the  Russian  armies,  then  encamped 
at  Tampopl,  who  not  only  forbade  the  surgeons  to  dress 
his  wounds,  but,  after  reducing  him  to  bread  and  water, 
loaded  him  with  chains,  and  transported  him  to  Kiow.    On 
his  arrival  at  Polene,  his  neglected  wound  had  so  far  en- 
dangered his  life,  that  his  conductor  was  induced  to  apply 
to  cobnel  Sirkow,  the .  commanding  officer  at  that  place. 


6  BENYOWSKY. 

and  be  was  sent  to  the  hospital,'  cured  of  his  wounds,  and 
afterwards  lodged  in  the  town,  with  an  advance  of  fifty 
roubles  for  his  subsistence.     Upon   the  afrival,  however, 
of  brigadier  Baiinia,  who  relieved  colonel   Sirkow  in  his 
command,   and   who  hacl  a  strong  prejudice  against  the 
count,  he  was  again  loaded  with  chains,  and  conducted  to 
the  dungeon  with  the  rest  of  the  prisoners,  who  were  al- 
lowed no  other  subsistence  than  bread  and  water.     Upon 
his  entrance  he  recognized  several  officers  and  soldiers  who 
had  served  under  him ;  and  their  friendship  was  the  only 
consolation  he  received  in  his  distressed  situation.  Twenty- 
tWQ  days  were  thus  consumed  in  a  subterraneous  prison, 
together  with  eighty  of  his  companions,  without  light,  and 
even  witiioui   air,  except  what  was  admitted  through  an 
aperture  which  communicated  with  the  casements.     These 
unhappy  wretches  were  npt  permitted  to  go  out  even  on 
their  natural  occasions,  which  produced  such  an  infection, 
that  thirty -five  of  ihem  died  in  eighteen  or  twenty  days  ; 
and  such  were  the  inhumanity  and  barbarity  of  the  com- 
mander, that  he  suffered  the  dead'  to  remain  and  putrefy 
^niong  the  living.     On  the  16th  of  July  the  prison  was 
opened,  and  one  hundred  and  forty- eight  prisoners,  who 
had  survived  out  of  seven  hundred  and  eighty-two,  were 
driven,  under  every  species  of  cruelty,   from  Polene  to . 
Kiow^    where   the   strength   of  the  count's  constitution, 
which  had  hitherto  enabled  him  to  resist  such  an  accumula- 
tion of  hardships  and  fatigue,  at  length  gave  way,  and  he  was 
attacked  witb^  a  malignant  fever,  and  delirium.     The  go* 
vernor,    count  Voicikow,  being  informed  of  his  quality, 
ordered  that  he  should  be  separately  lodged  in  a  house, 
and  that  two  roubles  a  day  should  be  paid  him  for  sub- 
sistence ;  but  when  be  was  in  a  fair  way  of  recovery,  an 
order  amved  from  Petersburgh  to  send  all  the  prisoners  to 
Cazan,  and  this  severity  bringing  on  a  relapse,  the  officer 
was  obliged  to  leave  the  count  at  Nizym,  a  town  depen- 
dant on  the  government  of  Kiow.     At  this  place,  a  Mr. 
Lewner,  a  German  merchant,  procured  him  comfortable 
accommodation,  superintended  the  restoration  of  his  health, 
and  on  his  departure  made  him  a  present  of  two  hundred 
roubles,  which  he  placed  for  safety  in  the  hands  of  the 
officer  until  his  arrival  at  Cazan,  but  who  had  afterwards 
the  effi-ontery  to   deny  that  he   had   ever    received   the 
money,  accused  the  count  of  attempting  to  raise  a  revolt 
among  the  prisoners,  and  caused  him  to  be  loaded  with 


BENYOWSKY,  7 

chains  and  committed  to  the  prison  of  Cazan,  from  which 
he  was  delivered  at  the  pressing  instances  of  marshal  Czar- 
nesky  Potockzy,  and  the  young  Palaozky.  He  was  then 
lodged  at  a  private  house,  and  being  invited  to  dine  with 
a  man  of  quality  in  the  place,  he  was  solicited,  and  con- 
sented to  join  in  a  confederacy  against  the  government. 
But  on  the  6th  of  November  1769,  on  a  quarrel  happening 
between  two  Russian  lords,  one  of  them  informed  the  go- 
vernor that  the  prisoners,  in  concert  with  the  Tartars,' 
meditated  a  design  against  his  persoq  and  the  gs^rrison. 
This  apostate  lord  accused  the  count,  in  order  to  save  his 
friends  and  countrymen,  and  on  the  7tb,  at  eleven  at  night, 
the  count  not  suspecting  any  such  event,  heard  a  knocking 
at  his  door.  He  came  down,  entirely  undressed,  with  a 
candle  in  his  band,  to  inquire  the  cause;  and,  upon 
opening  his  door,  was  surprised  to  see  an  officer  with 
twenty  soldiers,  who  demanded  if  the  prisoner  was  at  home. 
On  his  replying  in  the  affirmative,  the  officer  snatched  the 
caudle  out  of  his  hand,  and  ordering  his  men  to  follow 
him,  went  hastily  up  to  the  count^s  apartment.  The  count 
immediately  took  advantage  of  his  mistake,  quitted  his 
house,  and,  after  apprising  some  of  the  confederates  that 
their. plot  was  discovered,  he  made  his  escape,  and  arrived 
at  Petersburgfr'  on  the  19  th  of  November,  where  he  en- 
gaged with  a  Dutch  captain  to  take  him  to  Holland.  The 
captain,  however,  instead  of  taking  him  outboard  the  en- 
suing morning,  pursuant  to  his  premise,  appointed  him  to 
meet  on  the  bridge  over  the  Neva  at* midnight,  and  there 
betrayed  him  to  twenty  Russian  soldiers  collected  for  the 
purpose,  who  carried  him  to  count  Csecserin,  lieutenant- 
general  of  the  police.  The  count  was  conveyed  to  the 
fort  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  confined  in  a  subterraneous 
dungeon,  and  after  three  days  fast,  presented  with  a  mor- 
sel of  bread  and  a  pitcher  of  water :  but,  on  the  22d  of 
November  1769,  he  at  length,  in  hopes  of  procuring  his 
discharge,  was^ induced  to  sign  a  paper  promising  for  ever 
to  quit  the  dominions  of  her  imperial  majesty,  under  pain 
of  death. 

The  count  having  signed  this  engagement,  instead  of 
being  set  at  liberty,  was  re-conducted  to  his  prison,  and 
there  confined  till  4th  December  1769,  when,  about  two 
hours  after  midnight,  an  oiEcer  with  seven  soldiers  came 
to  him ;  and  he  was  thrown  upon  a  sledge  to  which  two 
horses  were  harnessed,  and  immediately  driven  away  with 


8  BE  NY  O  W  S  K  Y. 


^ 


the  greatest  swiftness.    The  darkness  of  the  night  pre- 
vented the  count  from  discermng  the  objects  around  him  ; 
but  on  the  approach  of  day-light  he  perceived  that  major 
Wynblath,  Vassili  Panow,  Hip^ohtus  Stephanow,  Asaph 
Baturin,  Ivan  Sopronow,  and  several  other  prisoners,  were 
the  companions  of  his  misfortunes  ;    and  after  suiFering 
from  the  brutality  of  theii:  conductor  a  series  of  hardships, 
in  passing  through  Tobolzk,    the  capital  of  Siberia,  the 
city  of  Tara,  the  town  and  river  of  Tomsky,  the  villages 
of  Jaktitzk  and  Judoma,  they  embarked  in  the  harbour  of 
Ochoczk,    on  the    26th   October   1770,    and   arrived  at 
Kamschatka  on  the  3d  December  following.     The  eiisuing 
day  they  were  conducted  before  Mr.  Nilow,  the  governor; 
when  it  was  intimated  to  them  that  they  should  be  set  at 
liberty  on  the  following  day,  and  provided  with  subsistence 
for  three  days,  after  which  they  must  depend  upon  them- 
selves for  their  maintenance ;  that  each  person  should  re-> 
ceive  from  the  chancery  a  musket  and  a  lance,  with  one 
pound  of  powder,  four  pounds  of  lead,  a  hatchet,  several 
knives  and  other  instruments,  and  carpenter's  tools,  with 
which  they  might  build  cabins  in  any  situations  they  chose, 
at  the  distance  of  one  league  from  the  town  ;  but  that  they 
should  be  bound  to  pay  in  furs,  during  the  first  year,  each 
one  hundred  roubles,  in  return  for  these  advantages ;  that 
everyone  must  work  at  the  corvee  one  day  in  the  week 
for  the  service  of  government,  and  not  absent  themselves 
from  their  huts  for  twenty-four  hours  without  the  governor*s 
permission ;  and  after  some  other  equally  harsh  terms,  it 
was  added,  that  their  lives  being  granted  to  them  for  no 
other  purpose  .than  to  implore  the  mercy  of  God,  and  the 
remission  of  their  sins,  they  could  be  employed  only  in 
the  meanest  works  to  gain  their  daily  subsistence.     Under 
these  regulations  the  exiles  settled  the  places  of  their  ha- 
bitations, built  miserable  huts  to  shelter  themselves  from 
the  inclemency  of  the  weather,  formed  themselves  into  a 
congress,  and  after  choosing  the  count  de  Benyowsky  their 
chief  or  captain,  they  swore  with  great  solemnity  mutual 
friendship  and  eternal  fidelity.      Among  the  number  of 
unhappy  wretches  who  bad  long  groaned  under  the  miseries 
of  banishment,  was  a  Mr.   Crustiew,    who  bad  acquired 
considerable  ascendancy  over  his  fellow-sufferers ;  and  to 
obtain  the  particular  confidence  and  esteem  of  this  man 
was  the  first  object  of  the  count's  attention ;  in  which  he 
80on  succeeded.     The  pains  and  perils  incident  to  the 


B  E  N  Y  O  W  S  K  Y.  9 

situation  to  which  these  men  were  reduced,  were  borne  for 
sometime  in  murmuring  sufferance,  until  the  accidental 
finding  an  old  copy  of  Anson's  Voyage  inspired  tbeni  with  an 
idea  of  making  an  escape  from  Kanischatka  to  the  Marian 
islands ;  and  the  count,  Mr.  Panow,  Baturin,  Stephanow, 
Solmanow,  majors  Wynblath,  Crustiew,  and  one  Wasili,  an 
old  and  faithful  servant  of  the  count's,  who  had  followed  his 
master  into  exile,  formed  a  confederacy  for  this  purpose. 
While  these  transactions  were  secretly  passing,  the  fame 
of  count  Benyowsky's  rank  and  abilities  reached  the  ear  of 
the  governor;  and  as  he  spoke  several  languages,  he  was 
after  some  time  admitted  familiarly  into  the  house,  and  at 
length  appointed  to  superintend  the  education  of  his  son 
and  his  three  daughters.     ^^  One  day,"  says  the  count, 
^^  while  I  was  exercising  my  office  of  language-master,  the 
youngest  of  the  three  daughters,  whose  name  was  Apha* 
nasia,  who  was  sixteen  years  of  age,  proposed  many  ques- 
tions  concerning  my  thoughts  in  my  present  situation, 
which  convinced  me  that  her  father  had  given  them  some 
information  concerning  my  birth  and  misfortunes.  I  there- 
fore gave  them  an  account  of  my  adventures,  at  which 
my  scholars  appeared    to  be    highly  affected,    but  the 
youngest  wept  very  much.     She  was  a  beautiful  girl,  and 
her  sensibility  created  much  emotion  in  my  mind — but, 
alas,  I  was  an  exile  !"    The  merits  of  the  count,  however, 
soon  surmounted  the  disadvantages  of  his  situation,  in  the 
generous  mind  of  miss  Nilow,  and  the  increasing  intimacy 
and  confidence  which  he  daily  gained  in  the  family,^oined 
to  the  advantages  of  a  fine  person  and  most  insinuating 
address,  soon  converted  the  feelings  of  admiration  into 
the  flame  of  love;  and  on  the  11th  of  January  1771,  ma- 
dame  Nilow,    the   mother,    consented  that  her  daughter 
should  do  the  honours  of  an  entertainment*  then  in  con- 
templation,   and  be  publicly  declared  his  future  spouse. 
But  the  count,  though  he  had  cultivated  an4  obtained  the 
affections  of  his  fair  pupil,  had  acted  more  from  policy 
than  passion,  and,  intending  to  use  her  interest  rather  as 
a  means  of  effectuating  the  meditated  escape  of  himself 
and  his  companions,  than  as  any  serious  object  of  matri* 
mouial  upion,  contrived  to  suspend  the  nuptials,  by  per« 
suading  the  governor  to  make  an  excursion  from  Kam- 
schatka  to  the  neighbouring  islands,  with  a  view  or  under 
pretence  of  establishing  a  new  colony.    During  these  trans- 
actions the  exiles  were  secretly  at  work ;  and  in  order  to 


10  B  E  N  Y  O  W  S  K  Y. 

conceal  their  design  from  all  suspicion,  Mr.  Crustiew  and 
Mr.  Panow  were  on  the  30th  of  March  deputed  to  wait  on 
the  governor  with  five  and  twenty  of  their  associates,  fo 
request  that  he  would  be  pleased  to  receive  the  title  of 
Protector  of  the  new  colony ;  and  the  embassy  was  not 
only  favourably  received,  but  orders  were  given  to  pre- 
pare every  thing  that  might  be  necessary  for  the  execution 
of  the  project.  At  this  crisis,  however,  .an  accident  oc- 
curred which  had  nearly  overturned  the  success  of  the 
scheme;  and  as  it  tends  to  discover  the  disposition  of  the 
count,  we  shall  relate  it  in  his  own  words. 

**  About  ten  o'clock  this  day  (1st  of  April,  1771),  I  re- 
ceived a  message  from,  miss  Nilow,  that  she  would  call  on 
me  in  the  afternoon,  requesting  at  the  same  time  that  I 
would  be  alone,  because  she  had  affairs  of  importance  to 
communicate.  A3  I  supposed  the  latter  part  of  this  mes- 
sage to  be  mere  pleasantry,  I  was  far  from  expecting  any 
extraordinary  information ;  and  my  surprise  at  the  event 
was  niuch  greater,  as  I  had  not  the  least  reason  to  suppose 
she  had  made  any  discovery  of  my  intentions.  Miss  Nilow 
arrived  at  three  in  the  afternoon  :  her  agitation  on  her  first 
appearance  convinced  me  that  she  was  exceedingly  afflicted. 
At  sight  of  me  she  paused  a  moment,  ^nd  soon  after  burst 
into  tears,  and  threw  herself  into  my  arms,  crying  out, 
that  she  was  unfortunate  and  forsaken.  Her  sighs  and  tears 
were  so  extreme,  that  it  was  teore  than  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  before  I  could  obtain  a  connected  sentence.  I  was 
extremely  affected  at.her  situation,  and  used  every  expe- 
dient to  calm  her  mind,  but  this  was  extremely  difficult, 
because  I  was  entirety  ignorant  of  the  reason  of  her  afBic- 
tion.  As  soon  as  she  became  a  little  composed,  she  begged 
me  to  shut  the  door,  that  no  one  might  interrupt  us.  I 
came  back,  and  on  my  knees  intreated  her  to  explain  the 
jcause  of  her  present  situation,  which  she  did  to  the  follow- 
ing effect : 

"  She  informed  me  that  her  maid  had  discovered  to  her, 
that  a  ceitain  person  named  Ivan  Kudrin,  one  of  my  asso- 
ciates, had  proposed  to  her  to  share  his  fortune,  and  that* 
this  indiscreet  person  had  assured  the  girl,  that  he  was 
about  to  quit  Kamscbatka  with  me,  to  make  a  voyage  to 
Europe,  where  he  hoped  to  place  her  in  an  agreeable  situ- 
ation. The  maid  had  first  related  the  circumstance  to  her 
mistress ;  but  as  she  could  never  believe  me  capable  of 
such  base  and  treacherous  behaviour  to  her,  she  was  desl« 


B  E  N  Y  O  W  S  K  y.  11 

roQS  of  hearing  the  account  herself,  and  had,  for  that  pur- 
pose,, persuaded  the  maid  to  appoint  a  meeting  with  Kudrin^ 
ill  order  to  question  hi  in  more  amply,  while  she  herself 
might  hear  the  whole,  by  bemg  concealed  behind  a  cur- 
tain. In  tliis  manner,  she  said,  she  became  convinced  of 
her  unhappiness  and  my  treachery,  and  that  she  would  have 
spared  me  the  confusion  of  hearing  thisj  if,  from  a  convic* 
tion  that  she  could  not  live  after  such  an  affront^  she  had 
not  been  desirous  of  bidding  me  a  last  fafewell. 

"  On  tinishing  tliese  words  she  faintfed,  and  though  I  was 
exceedingly  alarmed  and  distressed  on  the  occasion,  yet  !• 
did  not  fail  to  arrange  a  plan  in  my  mind,  during  the  inter- 
val of  her  insensibility.  When  this  amiable  young  lady 
recovered,  she  asked  if  she  might  give  credit  to  what  she 
bad  heard.  I  then  threw  myself  at  her  feet,  and  entreated 
her  to  hear  me  calmly,  and  judge  wheiher  I  was  to  blame 
or  not.  She  promised  she  would,  and  I  addressed  her  in 
the  following  terms : 

**^You  may  recollect,  my  dear  friend,  the  account  I 
gave  you  of  my  birth,  and  the  rank  I  held  in  Europe ;  I  re- 
member the  tears  you  shed  on  that  occasion.  The  misfor<« 
tune  of  being  exiled  to  Kamschatka  would  long  since  have 
compelled  me  to  deliver  myself  from  tyranny  by  death,  if 
jour  acquaintance  and  attachment  had  not  preserved  me« 
J  have  lived  for  you,  and  if  you  could  read  my  heart,  I  am 
sure  I  should  have  your  pity ;  for  the  possession  of  your 
person  is  becbme  as  necessary  to  my  existence  as  liberty  it- 
self. The  liberty  I  speak  of  is  not  that  which  your  worthy- 
father  has  given- me,  but  implies  the  possession  of  my  estate 
and  rank.  I  have  hoped  for  the  possession  of  your  person, 
with  a  view  of  rendering  you  happy  in  the  participation  of 
my  fortune  and  dignity.  These  views  cannot  be  accom- 
plished at  Kamschatka.  What  rank  can  I  bestow  on  my 
love  but  that  of  an  exile  ?  The  favours  of  your  worthy  fa-t 
ther  may  be  of  the  shortest  duration.  His  successor  may 
soon  recal  his  ordinances,  and  plunge  me  again  into  that 
state  of  suffering  and  contempt,  from  which  I  was  delivered 
for  a  short  moment.  Represent  to  yourself,  my  dearest 
friend,  the  affliction  and  despair  that  would  overwhelm  my 
soul,  when  1  beheld  you  a  sharer  in  my  pain  and  disgrace ; 
for  you  well  know  that  all  the  Russians  esteem  the  exiles  as 
dishonoured  persons.  You  have  forced  me  to  this  declara- 
tion of  my  intentions,  in  which  I  have  been  guided  by  the 
attachment  and  sincerity  of  my  heart.    I  deferred  the  com- 


13  BENYOWSKY. 

munication  to  you,  but  I  swear  that  such  was  my  resolu- 
tion."— "  Why  then,"  interrupt^  she,  **  did  you  conceal 
your  intention  from  me,  who  am  ready  to  follow  you  to  the 
farthest  limits  of  the  universe  ?"  This  assurance  encouraged 
me  to  proceed,  and  engage  this  charming  young  lady  in  my 
interests.  I  told  her,  therefore,  that  I  was  prevented  only 
by  the  fear  lest  she  should  refuse  my  proposals  on  account 
of  her  attachment  to  her  parents  ;  but  that,  as  I  now  had 
nothing  to  fear  in  that  respect,  I  could  inform  her,  that  my 
intention  being  to  leave  Kamschatka,  I  had  determined  to 
carry  her  off;  and  in  order  to  convince  her,  I  was  ready  to 
call  Mr.  Crustiew,  who  would  confirm  the  truth.  On  this 
assurance  she  embraced  me,  and  entreated  me  to  forgive 
her  want  of  confidence,  at  the  same  time  that  she  declared 
her  readiness  to  accompany  me. 

^^  This  degree  of  confidential  intercourse  being  esta^ 
blisbed,  l'  persuaded  her  to  dismiss  every  fear  from  her 
mind.  Many  were  the  trials  I  made  of  her  resolution,  and 
tlie  event  convinced  me  that  she  was  perfectly  determined 
to  follow  my  fortunes.  The  secret  being  thus  secure,  by 
her  promise  to  keep  it  inviolably,  I  had  no  other  uneasiness 
remaining  but  what  arose  from  the  communication  having 
been  made  to  her  servant.  I  mentioned  my  fears  to  miss 
Nilow,  who  removed  them,  by  assuring  me  that  her  servant 
was  too  much  attached  to  her  to  betray  her  secret,  and  had, 
besides,  an  affection  for  Kudrin,  so  that  she  could  answer 
for  her  discretion.  Thus  agreeably  ended  our  conversa- 
tion, though  the  commencement  was  rather  tragical,  and  I 
received  the  vows  of  attachment  and  fidelity  from  an  artless 
and  innocent  mind." 

On  the  23d  of  April  1771,  however,  "  Miss  Aphanasia," 
says  the  county/  ^^  came  to  me  incognito.  She  informed  me 
that  her  mother  was  in  tears^  and  her  father  talked  with  her 
in  a  manner  which  gave  reason  to  fear  that  he  suspected 
our  plot.  She  conjured  me  to  be  careful,  and  not  to  come 
to  the  fort  if  sent  for.  She  expressed  her  fears  that  it 
would  not  be  in  her  power  to  come  to  me  again,  but  pro- 
mised she  would  in  that  case  send  her  servant ;  and  she 
entreated  me  at  all  events,  if  I  should  be  compelled  to  use 
force  against  the  government,  I  would  be  careful  of  the  life 
of  her  father,  and  not  endanger  my  own.  I  tenderly  em- 
braced this  charming  young  lady,  and  thanked  her  for  the 
interest  she  took  in  my  preservation ;  and  as  it  appeared 
important  that  her  absence  should  not  .be  discovered,  I 


B  EN  Y  O  W  S  K  Y»  13 

begged  her  to  return  and  recommend  the  issue  of  oiir  in^ 
tentions  to  good  fortune.  Before  her  departure  I  reminded 
her  to  look  minutely  after  her  fathefr,  and  to  send  me  a  red 
ribband  in  case  government  should  determine  to  arrest  or 
attack  me ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  that  at  the  moment 
of  an  alarm,  she  would  open  the  shutter  of  her  window 
which  looked  to  the  garden,  and  cause  a  sledge  to  be  laid 
over  the  ditch  on  th&t  side.  She  promised  to  comply  with' 
my  instructions,  and  confirmed  her  promises  with  vows  and 
tears." 

The  apprehensions  of  this  faithful  girl  for  the  safety  of 
the  man  she  loved,  were  far  from  being  without  foundation ; 
and  on  the  26th  of  Aprif  she  sent  the  count  two  red  rib- 
bands, to  signify  the  double  danger  to  which  she  perceived 
he  was  exposed.  The  count,  however,  coolly  prepared  to 
brave  the  impending  storm,  and  gave  orders  to  the  leaders 
of  his  associates,  amounting  in  all  to  fifty-nine  persons,  to 
place  themselves  at  the  head  of  their  divisions^  and  station 
themselves  round  his  house,  in  readiness  to  act  in  the 
night,  in  case  an  attack  should  be  made  by  the  cossacks 
of  the  town,  and  soldiers  of  the  garrison,  who,  it  was  ru- 
moured, were  busied  in  preparing  their  arms.  At  five' 
o^clock  in  the  evening,  a  corporal,  with  four  grenadiers, 
stopped  at  the  count's  door,  demanding  admittance  in  the 
name  of  the  empress,  and  ordered  him  to  follow  the  guard 
to  the  fort.  The  count,  however,  proposed,  from  a  window, 
to  the  corporal,  that  he  should  enter  alone  and  drink  a  glass 
of  wine;  but^  on  his  being  admitted,  the  door  was  instantly 
shut  upon  him,  and  four  pistols  clapped  to  his  breast,  by 
the  terror  of  which  he  was  made  to  disclose  every  thing 
that  was  transacting  at  the  fort,  and  at  length  obliged  to 
call  the  four  grenadiers  separately  into  the  house,  under 
pretence  of  drinking,  when  they  wdre  all  five  bound  toge- 
ther, and  deposited  safely  in  the  cellar. 

This  measure  was^  of  course,  the  signal  of  resistance, 
and-  the  count  marshalling  his  associates,  who  had  secretly 
furnished  themselves  with  arms  and  animunition  by  the 
treachery  of  the  store*keepers,  issued  forth  from  the  house 
to  of^ose,  with  greater  advantage,  another  detachment  who 
had  been  sent  to  arrest  him.  After  levelling  several  sol- 
diers to  the  ground,  the  count,  by  the  mismanagement  of 
their  commander,  seized  their  cannon,  turned  them  with 
success  against  the  fort  itself,  and,  entering  by  means  of  the 
drawbridge,  dispatched  the  twelve  remaining  guards  who 


14  BENYOWSKY. 

were  then  within  it.  "  Madame  Nilow  and  her  children,'* 
says  the  count,  '^  at  sight  of  me  impiored  my  protection 
to  save  their  father  and  husband.  I  immediately  hastened 
to  bis  apartment,  and  begged  him  to  go  to  His  children^sl 
room  to  preserve  his  life,  but  he  answered  that  he  would 
jfirst  take  mine,  and  instantly  fired  a  pistol,  which  wounded 
me.  I  was  desirous  nevertheless  of  preserving  him,  and 
cqntinued  to  represent  that  all  resistance  would  be  useless; 
for  which  reason  I  entreated  him  to  retire.  His  wife  and 
children  threw  themselves  on  their  knees,  but  nothing  would 
avail ;  he  flew  upon  me,  seized  me  by  the  throat,  and  left 
me  no  other  alternative  than  either  to  give  up  my  own  life,' 
or  run  my  sword  through  his  body.  At  this  period  the 
petard,  by  which  my.associates  attempted  to  make  a  breach, 
exploded,  and  burst  the  outer  gate.  The  second  was  open, 
and.  I  saw  Mr.  Panow  enter  at  the  head  of  a  party.  He  en- 
treated the  governor  to  let  me  go,  but  not  being  able  to 
prevail  on  hipo,  he  set  me  at  liberty  by  splitting  his  skull.". 
The  count  by  this  event  became  complete  master  of  the 
fort,  and  by  the  cannon  and  ammunition  which  he  found  oii 
the  rampart,  was  enabled,  with  the  ready  and  active  assist- 
ance of  his  now  increased  associates,  to  repel  the  attack 
which  was  made  upon  him  by  the  cossacks;  but  flight, 
not  resistance,  was  the  ultimate  object  of  this  bold  com- 
mander; and  in  order  to  obtain  this  opportunity,  he  dis- 
patched a  drum  and  a  woman  as  a  sign  of  parley  to  the 
cossacks,  who  had  quitted  the  town  and  retired  to  the 
heights,  with  a  resolution  to  invest  the  fort  and  starve  the 
insurgents,  informing  them  of  his  resolution  to  send  a  de- 
tachment of  associates  into  the  town  to  drive  all  the  women 
and  children  into  the  church,  and  there  to  burn  them  all  to 
death,  unless  they  laid  down  their  arms.  While  t^is  em- 
bassy was  sent,  preparation  was  made  for  carrying  the 
threat  it  contained  into  immediate  execution ;  but  by  sub- 
mitting to  the  proposal,  the  execution  of  this  horrid  mea- 
sure was  rendered  unnecessary,  and  the  count  not  only 
received  into  the  fort  fifty-two  of  the  principal  inhabitants  of 
the  town,  as  hostages  for  the  fidelity  of  the  rest,  but  procured 
the  archbishop  to  preach  a  sermon  in  the  church  in  favour  of 
the  revolution.  The  count  was  now  complete  governor  of 
Kamschatka;  and  having  time,  without  danger,  to  prepare 
every  thing  necessary  for  the  intended  departure,  he  amused 
himself  with  ransacking  the  archives  of  the  town,  where  he 
found  several  manuscripts  of  voyages  made  to  the  eastward 


BENYOWSKY-  15 

of  Kamschatka*  The  count  also  formed  a  chart,  with  de* 
tails,  respecting  Siberia  and  the  sea--coast  of  Kamschatka, 
and  a  description  of  the  Kurelles  and  Aleuthes  islands. 
This  chart  has  not  survived  the  fate  of  its  composer. 

The  conspirators,  previous  to  their  hostilities  against  the 
governor,  had  prudently  secured  a  corvette  of  the  name  of 
St  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  which  then  rode  at  anchor  in  the 
port  of  Bolsha,  and  their  subsequent  success  afforded  them 
the  means  of  providing  her  with  such  stores  as  were  neces* 
sary  for  the  intended  voyage.  On  the  11th  of  May  1771, 
the  count,  as  commander  in  chief,  attended  by  Mr.  Cnistievr 
as  second,  by  sixteen  of  his  fellow-captives  as  quarter* 
guards,  and  by  fifty-seven  foremast  men,  'together  with 
twelve  passengers  and  nine  women,  among  whom  was  the 
lovely  Aphanasia,  disguised  in  sailor's  apparel,  went  on 
board  this  vessel ;  and  on  the  next  day  weighed  anchor, 
and  sailed  out  of  the  harbour  on  a  southern  course,  intend*- 
ing  to  continue  their  voyage  to  China.  On  ^he  20th  of 
May,  they  anchored  their  vessel  in  a  bay  on  the  coast  of 
Beerlng's  island,  where  they  found  the  celebrated  captain 
Ochotyn  and  his  followers,  who  had  also  escaped  from  ^xile 
in  Siberia,  and  were  wandering  in  search  of  that  settlement ' 
which,  from  their  restless  dispositions,  they  were  doomed 
never  to  find. 

.  The  count,  however,  was  not  to  be  detained  by  the  blan* 
dishments  of  friendship ;  he  departed  from  this  island,  and 
arrived,  after  experiencing  many  hardships  and  dangers  at 
>8ea,  at  the  harbour  of  Usilpatchar  in  Japan  on  the  2d  of 
August;  from  whence,  not  meeting  with  a  very  friendly 
reception,  he  again  immediately  set  sail,  and  arrived  on* 
Sunday  the  28th  of  August  at  the  island  of  Formosa.  The 
inhabitants  of  Formosa  at  first  appeared  inclined  to  treats 
him  with  respect  and  civility,  particularly  don  Hieronymo" 
Pacheco,  formerly  captain  at  the  port  of  Cavith  at  Manilla,, 
who  had  fled  from  that  employment  to  the  island  of  For* 
mosa,  in  consequence  of  his  having  in  a  moment  of  rage 
massacred  his  wife  and  a  Doniinican  whom  he  had  found  in^ 
her  company  :  but  these  professions  were  soon  found  to  be 
deceitful ;  for  on  sending  his  men  on  shore  to  fetch  water, 
they  were  attacked  by  a  party  of  twenty  Indians,  many  of 
them  dangerously  wounded,  and  Mr.  Panow,  the  count's 
most  faithful  friend,  killed.  Don  Hieronymo,  however,; 
contrived  to  exculpate  himself  from  any  concern  in  this* 
treachery,  and  to  advise  the  count  to  seek  revenge  by  a^ 


16  B  E  N  Y  O  W  S  K  Y. 

■ 

conquest  of  the  island ;  but  he  contented  himself  with  pro^ 
yoking  the  natives  to  a  second  attack,  and  repulsing  thein 
with  considerable  slaughter.  His  men,  however,  insisted 
on  going  in  quest  of  the  Indians,  in  order  to  make  them 
feel  their  further  vengeance.  The  remonstrances  of  the 
count  were  to  no  effect ;  and  at  length,  complying  witb 
their  desires,  he  requested  don  Hieronymo  to  guide  them 
towards  the  principal  residence  of  the  nation  who  had  given 
him  so  bad  a  reception,  where,  after  a  short  and  unequal 
conflict,  he  killed  eleven  hundred  and  fifty-six,  took  six 
hundred  and  forty-three  prisoners,  who  had  prostrated  them* 
selves  on  the  ground  to  beg  for  mercy  from  their  assailants, 
and  set  fire  to  their  town.  The  prince  of  the  country,  not- 
withstanding this  massacre  of  his  subjects,  was  introduced 
to  the  count  by  his  Spanish  friend,  and  a  cordiality  at 
length  took  place  between  them  to  such  a  degree,  that  the 
count  entered  into  a  formal  treaty  for  returning  and  settling 
at  Formosa ;  but  his  secret  motives  for  making  this  engage- 
ment appear  to  have  been,  the  execution  of  a  project  be 
had  silently  conceived  of  establishing  a  colony  on  the 
island. 

On  Monday  the  12th  of  September,  the  count  and  his 
associates  sailed  from  Formosa ;  on  the  Thursday  follow*- 
ing  the  coast  of  China  appeared  in  sight;  and  two  days 
afterwards  his  vessel  was  piloted  into  the  port  of  Macao. 
At  this  place  he  was  treated  with  great  respect  by  the  go- 
vernor and  the  principal  men  of  the  town  ;  and  on  the  3d 
of  October  1771,  captain  Gore,  then  in  the  service  of  the 
English  East-India  company,  made  an  offer  of  services  to 
him  on  the  part  of  the  directors,  and  a  free  passage  to 
Europe,  provided  he  would  bind  himself  to  entrust  his 
manuscripts  to  the  company,  engage  to  enter  into  their 
service,  and  make  no  communication  of  the  discoveries  he 
had  made.  But  having  accepted  proposals  from  the  French 
directors,  the  offers  of  captain  Gore  were  rejected,  and  the 
count  soon  afterwards  returned  from  Macao  to  Europe  on 
board  a  French  ship. 

He  arrived  on  the  8th  of  August  1772,  in  Champagne, 
where  the  duke  d^Aiguillon,  the  minister  of  fVauce,  then 
was ;  "  and  he  received  me,"  says  the  count,  "  with  cor- 
diality and  distinction,  and  proposed  to  me  to  enter  the 
service  of  his  master,  with  the  offer  of  a  regiment  of  in-' 
faiHry ;  which  I  accepted,  ,bn  condition  that  his  majesty 
would  be  pleased  to  employ^me  in  forming  establishments- 


BENTOWSKY.  t? 

Ibeyond  the  Cape.^'  Ib  con^equeaQ^  of  this  conditipn,  tha 
duke  bis  patron  proposed  to  bim  from  his  msyeaty  to  foroa 
an  establishment  oi^  the  island  of  Madagasc)ir>  upon  tk% 
same  footing  as  he  had  proposed  upon  the  island  of  For-* 
mosa,  the  whole  scheme  of  which  is  publidbed  in  bis  me^ 
moirs  of  his  own  life^  and  discovers  vast  knowledge  of  the 
interests  of  eommercQ,  and  a  deep  insight  into  the  c)ia-* 
racters  of  men. 

To  a  romantic  mind  and  adventurous  spirit  such  as  the 
count  possessed,  a  proposal  like  the  present  was  irre** 
sistible ;  and  after  receiving  the  most  positive  assurancei 
from  the  French  ministryi  that  he  should  constantly  receive 
from  them  the  regular  supplies  necessary  to  promote  the 
success  of  his  undertaking,  he  set  sail  on  the  22d  of  March^ 
1779,  from  Port  U Orient  for  Madagascar,  under  the  treache^^ 
reus  auspices  of  recommendatory  Tetters  to  Mr.  De  Temay^ 
governor  of  the  isle  of  Fnmce,  where  he  landed  with  a 
company  of  between  four  and  five  hundred  men. on  the 
i22d  of  September  following.  Instead,  however,  of  receive 
ing  the  promised  assistapce  at  this  place,  the  governor  en« 
deavoured  by  every  means  in  bis  power  to  thwart  the  sue-? 
cess  of  his  enterprise ;  and  no  other  step  remained  for  him 
to  take,  than  that  of  hastening  for  Madagascar.  He  ac<i* 
cordingly  set  sail  ia  the  Des  Torg^,  a  vessel  badly  pro- 
vided with  those  stores  that  were  most  likely  to  be  of  use, 
and  came  to  an  anchor  at  Madagascar  on  the  14th  of  Fe- 
bruary 1774.  The  opposition  which  be  met  from  the  se^ 
veral  nations  placed  him  in  a  daugeious  situation ;  but  he 
^t  length,  with  great  difficulty,  formed  an  establishment 
on  Foul.  P<Hnt,  entered  into  a  commercial  intercourse,  and 
^med  treaties  of  friendship  and  alliance  with  the  greater 
part  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  extensive  island.  But  whether . 
the  count,  whose  commission  only  extended  to  open  a 
friendly  intercourse  with  the  natives,  was  abandoned  by 
the  minister  from  the  cruelty  of  neglect,  whilst  he  was  iu 
the  regular  execution  of  the  commands  of  hi^  sovereign, 
or  because  his  exorbitant  spirit,  and  ambition  bega^  to  soar 
to  more  than  an  ordinary  pitch  of  power  and  greatness,  the 
following  curious  and  extraordinary  narrative  pf  his  sub« 
sequent  conduct  will  manifestly  shew. 
,  The  island  of  Madagascar,  as  is  well  known,  is  of  vast 
extent,  and  is  inhabited  by  a  great  variety  of  different  na« 
tions.  Among  these  is  the  nation  of  Sambarines,  formerly 
^vemed  by  a  chief  of  the  name  and  titles  of  JlolKindrian 

Vol.  V.  C 


18  •         B  £  N  Y  O  W  S  K  Y. 

Ampansacab^  Ramini  Larizon ;  whose  only  child^  a  love);f 
daughter,  had,  it  seems,  been  taken  prisoner,  and  sold  as 
a*  captive ;  and  from  this  cii'cumstance,  upon  the  death  of 
Ramini,  bis  family  was  supposed  to  be  extinct^  *^  On  the 
2d  of  February,"  says  the  count,  "  M.  Corbi,  one  of  my 
most  confidential  officers,  with  the  interpreter,  informed 
xne,  that  the  old  negress  Susanna,  whom  I  had  brought 
from  the  isle  of  France,  and  who  in  her  early  youth  bad 
been  sold  to  the  French,  and  had  lived  upwards  of  fifty 
years  at  the  isle  of  France,  had  reported,  that  her  com- 
panion, the  daughter  of  Ramini,  having  likewise  been  made 
a  prisoner,  was  sold  to  foreigners,  and  that  she  had  cer- 
tain marks  that  I  was  her  son.  This  officer  likewise  re- 
presented to  me,  that  in  consequence  of  her  report  the 
Sambarine  nation  had  held  several  cabars  to  declare  me 
the  heir  of  Ramini,  and  consequently  proprietor  of  the 
province  of  Manahar,  and  successor  to  the  title  of  Ampau- 
sacab^,  or  supreme  chief  of  the  nation.  This  information 
appeared  to  me  of  the  greatest  consequence,  and  I  deter^- 
mined  to  take  the  advantage  of  it,  to  conduct  that  brave 
and  generous  nation  to  a  civilized  state.  But  as  I  had  no 
person  to  whom  I  could  entrust  the  secret  of  my  mind,  I 
lamented  how  blind  the  minister  of  Versailles  was  to  the 
true  interests  of  France.  On  the  same  day  I  interrogated 
Susanna  on  the  report  she  had  spread  concerning  my  birth. 
The  good  old  woman  threw  herself  at  my  knees,  and  es:- 
cused  herself  by  confessing  that  she  had  acted  entirely 
upon  a  (Conviction  of  the  truth.  For  she  said  that  she  had 
known  my  mother,  whose  physiognomy  resembled  mine, 
and  that  she  had  herself  been  inspired  in  a  dream  by  the 
Zahanhar  to  publish  the  secret.  Her  manner  of  speaking 
convinced  me  that  she  really  believed  what  she  said.  I 
therefore  embraced  her,  and  told  her  that  I  -had  reasons 
for  keeping  the  secret  respecting  my  birth ;  but  that  pe* 
vertheless  if  she  had  any  confidential  friends  she  might  ac- 
quaint them  with  it.  At  these  words  she  arose,  kissed  my 
hands,  and  declared  that  the  Sambarine  nation  was  in- 
formed of  the  circumstances,  and  that  the  Rohandriaa 
Raffangour  waited  only  for  a  favourable  moment  to  ac- 
knowledo;e  the  blood  of  Ramini.'* 

.The  fallacy  to  which  the  old  woman  thus  gave  evidence, 
feeble  as  the  texture  of  it  may  appear  to  penetrating  minds, 
was  managed  by  the  count  with  such  profound  dexterity 
and  address,  that  he  was  declared  the  heir  of  Ramini,  in* 


BENYOWSKY.  10 

^nested  with  the  sovereignty  of  the  nation,  received  ambas- 
sadors and  formed  alliances  in  the  capacity  of  a  king  with 
other  tribes,  made  war  and  peace,  led  his  armies  in  person 
into  the  field,  and  received  submission  from  his  vanquished 
enemies.  In  this  situation  it  is  not  wonderful  that  he 
should  forget  the  allegiance  he  was  under  to  the  king  of 
France }  and,  representing  to  his  subjects  the  difficulties 
he  had  experienced  from  the  neglect  of  the  minister,  and 
the  probable  advantages  that  might  result  by  forming  a 
new  and  national  compact  either  with  that  or  some  other 
|)owerful  kingdom  in  Europe,  he  persuaded  them  to  per^ 
mit  him  to  return  to  Europe  for  that  purpose ;  and  ^'  on 
the  11th  of  October,  1776,"  says  the  count,  "  1  took  my 
leave  to  go  on  board  :  and  at  this  single  moment  of  my  life 
I  experienced  what  a  heart  is  capable  of  suffering,  when 
torn  from  a  beloved  and  affectionate  society  to  which  it  is 
devoted.** 

This  account  concludes  his  narrative;  but  among  the 
memoirs  and  papers  which  fill  the  remaining  part  of  the 
volume,  it  appears,  that  on  his  arrival  in  Europe  his  pro«- 
posals  to  the  court  of  France  were  rejected ;  that  he  made 
subsequent  offers  of  his  service  to  the  emperor  of  Germany, 
which  met  with  no  better  success;  and  that  on  the  25th  of 
December,  1783,  he  offered,  in  the  character  of  Sovereign 
of  the  island  of  Madagascar,  terms  for  an  offensive  and  de* 
fensive  alliance  with  the  ^ing  of  Great  Britain:  but  this 
proposal  was  also  declined.  The  ardour  of  the  count,  how« 
ever,  was  not  abated  by  these  disappointments ;  he  pre- 
tended to  look  with  contempt  on  kings  who  could  be  so 
blind  to  the  interests  and  advantages  of  their  people ;  and, 
sending  for  his  family  from  Hungary,'  he  sailed  from  Lon- 
don with  some  of  his  associates  for  Maryland,  on  the  1 4th 
of  April,  1784,  with  a, cargo  of  the  value  of  near  4,000/1 
sterling,  consisting,  it  seemf,  of  articles  intended  for  the 
Madagascar  trade.  A  respectable  commercial  house  in  Bal^ 
,  timore  was  induced  to  join  in  his  scheme,  and  supplied 
him  with  a  ship  of  450  tons,  whose  lading  was  estimated 
at.more  than  1,000/.  in  which  he  sailed  from  that  place  o^ 
the  25th  of  Oct.  1784,  and  landed  at  Antangara  on  the 
island  of  Madagascar,  on  the  7th  of  July  1785,  fropoi  whence 
he  departed  to  Angouci,  and  commenced  hostilities  against 
the  French  by  seizing  their  storehouse.  Here  he  busied 
himself  in  erecting  a  town  after  the  manner  of  the  country, 
and  froBT  heAce  he  sent  a  detachment  of  one  hundred  men 

C  2 


so  BENYOWSKt. 

to  take  possession  of  the  French  factory  at  Foul  Point ;  Ibut 
they  were  prevented  from  carrying  their  purpose  into  exe- 
cution by  the  sight  of  a  frigate  which  was  at  anchor  off  the 
Point.  In  consequence  of  these  movements,  the  governor 
of  the  isle  of  France  sent  a  ship  with  sixty  regulars  on 
board,  who  landed  and  attax;ked  tl^e  count  on  the  momitij; 
of  the  23d  of  May  1786.  He  had  constructed  a  small  re^^ 
doubt  defended  by  two  cannon,  in  which  himself,  with  two 
^Europeans  and  thirty  natives,  waited  the  approach  of  the 
enemy.  The  blacks  fled  at  the  first  fire,  and  Benyowsky, 
having  received  a  ball  in  his  right  breast,  fell  behind  the 
parapet ;  whence  he  was  dragged  by  the  hair,  and  expired 
a  few  minutes  afterwards.  . 

Such  is  the  abridgment  of  the  history  of  this  singular 
adventurer,  taken  from  his  Memoirs  published  in  1790^ 
2  vols.  4to,  *  and  inserted  in  the  preceding  edition  of  this 
Dictionary.  We  have  reduced  the  narrative  in  some  parts, 
but  are  yet  doubtful  whether  accounts  of  this  kind  strictly 
belong  to  our  plan,  and  still  more,  whether  the  space  al- 
lotted to  this  is  not  disproportionate.  The  story,  however, 
is  interesting,  and  although  the  evi4ence  is  chiefly  that  of 
the  adventurer  himself,  the  two  volumes  of  his  memoirs 
Thay  hereafter  be  found  useful  as  far  as  they  describe  the 
Ihitherto  almost  unknown  island  of  Madagascar.  Of  his 
chiaracter,  it  is  not  easy  to  form  a  decided  opinion.  Even 
from  his  own  account,  he  appears  to  have  been  unsteady, 
ambitious,  and  cruel  in  his  expedients,  but  how  far  his  na- 
tural disposition  may  have  been  altered  by  his  sufferings, 
and  the  love  of  life  and  liberty  may  have  predominated 
over  that  of  truth  and  humanity,  from  what  some  are  pleased 
to  call  a  fatal  necessity,  we  shall  not  presume  to  deter- 
mine.  * 

BENZEL  DE  STERN^U  (Anselm  Francis  de),  a 
privy  counsellor  of  the  electorate  of  Mentz,  was  born  Aug. 
28,  1738,  and  arrived  at  the  dignity  of  counsellor  when 
only  nineteen  years  of  age.  The  emperor  invited  him  to 
Vienna,  but  he  refused  this  honourable  offer,  and  remained 
at  Mentz,  where  having  attained  the  rank  of  chancellor  of 
state,  he  applied  his  attention  to  the  reformation  of  the 
schools,  and  the  regulation  and  diminution  of  the  convents. 
He  was  one  of  the  chief  promoters  of  the  union  of  the  Ger- 
man bishops  against  the  court  of  Rome.    The  death  of  the 

1  Memoin  as  aboTt, 


P  E  N  Z  E  L,  21 

diector  Emmerick  Joseph,  in  1774,  interrupted  hUpiir- 
^its ;  but  he  wc^  soon  recalled,  and  in  1782,  appointed  to 
the  guardiajiship  of  the  universities  of  the  electorate,  an4 
disUpguished  hiiQself  by  many  humane  and  enlightened 
regulations.  He  died  May  7,  1784.  We  have  only  from 
bis  pen,  the  p)an  of  a  *^  New  organization  of  the  Univer^ 
•ity  of  Mentz,"  1784,  8vo./ 

BENZELIUS  (Eric),  archbishop  of  Upsal,  was  born  in 
Sweden  in  li642,  at  a  village  called  Benzeby^  whence  h^ 
took  his  name.  His  parents  were  of  mean  condition,  but 
an  uncle  enabled  him  to  pursue  his  studies  at  Upsal,  where 
he  was  appointed  .tptor  to  the  children  of  the  count  de  1^ 
Cardie^  grand  chancellor  of  the  kingdom.  He  afterward^ 
travelled  in  Germany,  jB'rance,  and  England,  and  on  hi9 
return  to  his  country,  was  appointed  professor  of  history 
md  jpor^ls.  .Having  ako  made  great  progress  in  theolo- 
gical studies,  be  was  c|*eated  doctor  of  that  faculty  and 
appointed  professor.  In  1677  he  was  promoted  to  the 
bishopric  qf  Strengnes,  wi\d  in  1700,  to  the  archbishopric 
of  Upsal,  which  he  held  until  bis  death,  Feb.  17,  1709.  He 
was  twice  married,  and  by  his  first  wife  had  thirteen  chil* 
dren,  of  whom  three  of  the  sons  became  archbishops  of 
Upsal.  Benzelhis  instructed  Charles  XII.  in  theological 
studies,  and  that  prince  preserved  always  a  high  esteem  for 
him.  The  archbishop  wrote  an  *^  Abridgment  of  Eccler 
siastical  History,"  several  dissertations  on  subjects  of  theo- 
logy and  ecclesiastical  history,  and  a  Latin  translation,  wit^ 
notes,  of  msMiiy  of  the  homilies  of  St.  Chrysostom,  which  he 
made  from  manuscripts  in  the  Bodleian  library.  He  had 
also  the.superintendanc^  of  the  edition  of  the  Bible,  in  the 
Swedish  language,  which  Charles  XII.  ordered  to  be  pub- 
lished in  1703,  with  engravings,  and  which  still  bears  the 
name  of  that  monarch.  Very  few  alterations,  however^ 
were  introduced  in  this  edition,  as  the  divines  of  the  time 
.could  not  agree  on  certain  disputed  passages,  and  an  entire 
iiew  translation  was  reserved  for  the  reign  of  Gustavus  HI.' 

BENZELIUS  (Eric),  archbishop  of  Upsal,  and  one  of 
thejsons  of  the  preceding,  was  born  at- Upsal  in  1675. 
When  he  had  finished  his  studies,  his  father  sent  him  on 
his  travels  to  the  principal  countries  of  Europe,  and  on  his 
return,  he  was  made  librarian  to  the  university  of  Upsal. 
He  was  afterwards  for  many  years,  and  with  great  reputa- 

)  Bio|r.  UniTeraeUe,  *  Biqg.  UaiYersellc^MorerL 


M  BE  N  Z  E  L  I  U  S. 

r 

t)on,  professor  of  divinity,  and  became  successively  bishop 
of  Gottenbnrgh  and  Linkaeping,  and  arqhbishop  of  Upsal^ 
ivhere  he  died  in  17  4  3*  He  was  not  t>nly  an  able  theoi> 
logian,  but  versed  in  languages,  history,  and  antiquities, 
and  in  all  his  writings  displays  erudition  and  critical  acumen. 
He  published,  1.  ^<  Monumenta  historica  v)etera  Ecolesias 
Sueco-GothicBB,"  Upsal,  1704,  4to.  3,  "  Johannis  Vas^ 
tovii  Vitis  Aquilonia,  sive  Vitse  Sanctorum  regni  Sueco- 
Gothici,"  ibid.  1708,  4to.  3.  **  Dissertatio  de  Alexandria 
iEgypti,'*  ibid.  1711,  8vo.  4.  '^Laudatio  funebris  Michael. 
Enemanni,'*  Upsal,  1715,  4to.  5.  *<  Dissertatio  de  re  lit- 
teraria  Judseprum,"  ibid.  1716,  4to.  6.  **  Acta  Litteraria 
iSueciae,  ah  1720  usque  ad  1733,"  ibid.  3  vols.  4to.  7-  "Pe- 
riculum  Runicum,  sive  de  origine  et  antiquitate  Runarum,^* 
ibid.  1724,  8vo.  3.  '^Oratio  funebris  in  memoriam  Lau- 
rentii  Molini,  theologi  Upsaliensis,*^  ibid.  4to.  These 
learned  and  ingenious  works  procured  him  very  great  re- 
putation, and  the  correspondence  of  the  most  eminent  men 
of  learning  in  every  part  of  Europe.  In  1720,  when  li- 
Ibrarian  to  the  university,  he  associated  with  some  of  the 
professors  in  founding  the  academy  of  sciences  of  Upsal, 
which  was  soon*  after  established  by  government,  and  is  the 
oldest  institution  of  that  kind  in  the  north ;  and  when  the 
^academy  of  Stockholm  was  founded  in*  1739,  Benzelius  was 
iadmitted  one  of  its  first  members.  ^ 

BENZELIUS  (H£NRY),  archbishop  of  Upsal,  and  bro* 
ther  to  the  preceding,  was  born  at  Strengnes  in  1689,  and 
studied  at  Upsal.  During  his  subsequent  travels  he  hap* 
pened  to  arrive  at  Bender,  where  Charles  XII.  was.  This 
prince,  who  had  more  taste  for  the  pursuit  of  scientific 
knowledge  than  is  generally  supposed,  wa$  desirous  at  this 
time  to  send  some  men  of  learning  to  the  East,  and  Ben- 
zelius was  one  whom  he  applied  to,  find  who  accordingly 
]>egan  his  travels  in  1714,  visiting  Syria^  Palestine,  and 
JEgypt,  and  returning  to  Sweden  through  Italy,  Germany, 
and  Holland.  The  journal  of  this  tour  is  preserved  in  ma- 
nuscript at  Upsal ;  but  a  considerable  part  of  Benzelius's 
observations  were  printed  in  a  Latin  collection,  under  the 
title  of  ^^  Syntagma  dissertationum  in  Academia  Lundensi 
iiabitarum,''  Leipsic.  1745,  4U).  Benzelius,  after  his  return 
to  Sweden,  was  maae  professor  of  theology,  bishop  of  Lun- 
^en^  and  ^i^i^bishop  of  Upsal,  where  he  died  in  1758.    Ha 

?  Bioff.  UiuTene11e.^Saxii  OnonMiiooq. 


B  E  N  Z  E  L  I:  U  S.  23 

was  succteded  in  the  archbishopric  by  his  brother  Jacob, 
who  wrote  in  Latin,  an  abridgment  of  theology,  and  a 
description  of  Palestine,  and  some  other  works. — H.  Jas- 
per Benz£LIUS,  of  the  same  learned  family,  who.  died 
about  the  end  of  the  last  century,  bishop  of  Strengnes, 
had  studied  under  Mosheim,  and  publbbed  in  174^1'  at 
Helmstadt,  a  Latin  life  or  dissertation  on  John  Dury,  who 
in  the  seventeenth  century,  travelled  over  a.  considerable 
part  of  Europe,  in  hopes  of  reconciling  the  Lutherans  and 
Calvinists.  * 

BENZONI  (Jerom),  a  Milanese,  was  born  about  1519. 
His  father,  who  was  not  rich,  having  suffered  by  the  war, 
sent  him  on  his  travels,  to  seek  his  fortune  in  Italy,  France^ 
Spain,  and  Germany.  He  did  not  find  what  he  sought, 
but  became  so  captivated  with  the  accounts  recentlv  r6* 
ceived  from  the  new  world,, that  he  determined  to  go  tnere. 
Accordingly  in  1541,  he  went  to  Spain,  and  embarked  foe 
America,  where  he  remained  fourteen  years.  In  li56,  he 
returned  to  his  country,  rich  only  in  the  observations  he 
iiad  made,  and  which  he  communicated  to  the  public,  in  a 
"  History  of  the  New  World,"  in  Italian,  Venice,  J  565, 
4to,  reprinted  1572,  8vo,  and  afterwards  translated  into 
Latin,  French,  German,  and  Flemish.  * 

BEOLCO  (Angelo),  surnamed  Ruzzante,  was  bom  at 
Padua,  about  1502,  and  died  in  li42.  He  applied  him-* 
self  early  in  life  to  study  the  manners,  gesture>  and  lan- 
guage of  villagers,  and  copied  every  particular  that  sa- 
voured of  simplicity,  drollery,  and  the  grotesque.  He  was 
the  Vade  of  the  Italians.  His  rustic  farces,  though  written 
in  a  low  and  vulgar  style,  are  yet  pleasing  to  people  of  edu* 
cation,  by  the  correctness  with  which  the  counttymen  are 
represented,  and  by  the  witticisms  with  which  they  are  sea- 
soned. He  preferred  being  the  first  in  this  species  of  com- 
position, to  being  the  second  in  a  more  elevated  line.  His 
principal  pieces  are,  la  Vaccaria,  TAnconitana,  la  Mos- 
chetta,  la  Fiorina,  la  Piovana,  &c.  These  were  printed 
with  other  poems  of  the  same  kind  in  1584  in  12mo,  under 
this  title,  ^^Tutte  le  opere  del  famosissimo  Ruzzante,"  and 
have  often  been  republished. ' 

BERARDIER  de  Bataut  (Francis  Joseph),  a  doctor 
of  the  Sorbonne,   formerly  professor  of  eloquence,  and 

>  Biog^.  UinTersell«.  *  Ibid. 

I  Ibi(C-«Moreri«-*Freheri  Th^tram.'— Baillet  tfugemens  det  SaraDi^ 


i^hrvMA^  grand  mafeit^r  of  tti6  college  of  Louis-le-Gtand, 
Was  born  at  Paris  in  1720.  He  was  deputy  from  the  clergj 
of  Paris,  in  the  constituent  assembly,  and  died  at  Paris  in 
1 794.  He  had  acquired  great  reputation  in  the  university, 
and  Was  not  l^ss  tiespected  in' the  above  assembly,  where  he 
signed  thie  famous  protest  of  Sept.  12,  1791.  Camille- 
De^moulins,  who  had  been  his  pupil,  celebrated  him  in  his 
verses  ehtitled  **  Mes  adieux  au  college ;"  and  from  a  sin- 
gular caprice,  this  revolutionist  chose  to  receive  the  nup- 
tial benediction  from  Berardier,  although  one  of  the  non- 
jiiring  priests,  and  of  totally  opposite  principles.  St.  Just 
and  Robespierre  were  the  wittiesses  on  this  occasion  ;  and 
such  was  the  regard  Camillie-Desinoulins  had  for  him,  that 
he  protected  him  from  the  massacres  of  the  2d  of  Septem- 
ber 1792.  Berardier  wrote,  1.  "  Precis  de  I'Histoire  uni- 
Vcrselle^"  a  very  excellent  introduction  to  the  study  of  his- 
tory, which  has  gone  through  sevelral  editions.  2.  '<  Essai 
sur  le  recit,'*  1776,  12mo,  also  very  successful,  but  not 
writtenwith  so  much  perspicuity.  3.  "  Anti-Lucrece  en 
vers  Fran^ais,'*  1786,  2  vols.  12mo.  4.  *^  Principes  de  la 
foi  sur  le  g'ouvernment  de  PEglise,  en  opposition  i,  la  con- 
stitution civile  du  clerge,  ou  refutation  de  I'opinion  de  M. 
Camus,'*  8vo.  Of  this  fourteen  editions  were  printed  with- 
in six  months,  and  it  has  likewise  been  published  under  the 
title  of  "  Vrais  Principes  de  la  Constitution  du  Clerg^.*'  * 

BERAUD  (Laurence),  a  French  mathematician  and  as-*' 
tronomer,  was  born  at  Lyons,  March  5,  1703,  entered 
among  the  Jesuits,  and  became  professor  of  humanity  at 
Vienne  and  at  Avignon,  and  of  mathematics  and  philo- 
sophy at  Aix.  In  1740  he  was  invited  to  Lyons  and  ap- 
pointed professor  of  mathematics,  director  of  the  observa- 
tory, and  keeper  of  the  medals ;  and  the  same  year  be  be- 
came astronoiher  to  the  academy,  the  memoirs  of  which  are 
enriched  by  a  great  many  of  his  observations,  particularly 
that  on  the  passage  of  Mercury  on  the  Sun,  May  €,  1753, 
during  which  he  saw  and  demonstrated  the  luminbus  ring 
round  that  planet,  which  had  escaped  the  notice  of  all  the 
astronomers  for  ten  years  before.  In  air  his  results,  he 
entirely  agreed  with  Lalande,  who  had  made  the  same  ob- 
servations at  Paris,  and  with  the  celebrated  Cassini.  All 
his  observations,  indeed,  are  creditable  to  his  talents,  and 
accord    with  those   of    the  most   eminent  astronomers^ 

I  Bios*  tJBjvcraelle. 


B  £  R  A  tJ  D.  25 

Among  his  other  papers,  inserted  in  the  memoirs  of  the 
academy,  we  find  several  on  vegetation,  on  the  evapora-^ 
tion  of  liquids,  and  the  ascent  of  vapours,  on  light,  a  phy-> 
sical  theory  on  the  rotation  of  the  earth  and  the  inclination 
of  its  axis,  &c.     In  meteorology,  he  published  observa- 
tions on  the  tubes  of  thermometers,  with  an  improvement 
in  the  construction  of  them,  which  was  the  subject  of  three 
memoirs  read  in  the  academy  of  Lyons  in  1747.     He  has 
also  endeavoured  to  account  for  metals  reduced  to  calcina- 
tion weighing  heavier  than  in  their  former  state,  and  main- 
tains, against  Boyle,  that  fire  is  incapable  of  giving  this 
additional  weight,  and  likewise  refutes  the  opinion  of  those 
who  attribute  it  to  air,  or  to  substances  in  the  air  which  the 
action  of  fire  unites  to  the  metal  in  fusion.     This  memoir 
was  honoured  with  the  prize  by  the  academy  of  Bourdeaux 
in  1747,  and  contained  many  opinions  which  it  would  have 
been  difficult  to   contradict   before   the    experiments  of 
Priestley,  Lavoisier,  and  Morveau.     In  1748,  he  received 
the  same  honour,  from  that  academy,  for  a  paper  in  which 
he  maintained  the  connexion  between  magnetisnn  and  elec- 
tricity, assigning  the  same  cause  to  both.     In  1760,  he  re- 
ceived a  third  prize  from  the  same  academy,  for  a  disser- 
tation  oh  the  influences  of  the  moon  on  vegetation  and  ani- 
mal oeconomy.     Beraud  was  also  a  corresponding  member 
of  the  academy  of  sciences  in  Paris,  and  several  of  his 
papers  are  contained  in  their  memoirs,  and  in  those  of  the 
academy  of  Lyons*     He  Wrote  several  learned  dissertations 
on  subjects  of  antiquity.     On  the  dissolution  of  the  society 
of  Jesuits,  he  left  his  country  for  some  time,  as  h^  could 
not  conscientiously  take  the  oaths  prescribed,  and  on  his 
return,  notwithstanding  many  pressing  offers  to  be  restored 
to  the  academy,  he  preferred  a  private  life,  never  having 
recoyered  the  shock  which  the  abolition  of  his  order  had 
occasioned.     In.  this  retirement  he  died  June  26,  1777. 
His  learning  and  virtues  were  universally  admired ;  he  was 
of  a  communicative  disposition,  and  equal  and  candid  tem- 
per, both  in  his  writings  and  private  life.     Montucla,  La- 
lande,  and  Bossu,  were  his  pupils  ;  and  father  Lefevre  of 
the  Oratory,  his  successor  in  the  observatory  of  Lyons, 
pronounced  his  eloge  in  that  academy,  which  was  printed 
at  Lyons,  1780,  12mo.     The  Diet.  Hist,  ascribed  to  Be- 
raud, a  small  volume,  *^  La  Physique  des  corps  animus/* 
1755,  12mo.> 

1  Biof .  UniTerscUe. — Did.  Hist. 


26  B  E  R  A  U  L  D. 

BERAULD,  or  BERAULT  (Nicholas),  was  bom  at  Or* 

leans  in  1475,  and  died  in  1550.  According  to  tlie  cus* 
torn  of  that  age,  he  Latinized  his  name  into  Beralbus 
AuRELius,  and  it  is  under  that  name  that  his  friend  Nico^ 
las  Bourbon  celebrates  him  in  oi>e  of  his  Latin  poems. 
Berauld,  according  to  Moreri,  was  preceptor  to.  cardinal 
Coligni,  his  brother  the  admiral,  and  to  Chatillon.  Eras- 
mus, in  many  parts  of  his  works,  acknowledges  the  kind 
hospitality  of  Berauld,  when,  in  1500,  he  was  travelling 
by  the  way  of  Orleafis  into  Italy,  and  highly  praises  the 
elegance  of  his  style.  In  1522,  IJ^asmus  dedicated  to  him 
his.  work  ^^  De  conscribendis  epistolis/'  Berauld  pub- 
lished various  works  in  Latin,  of  which  the  principal  are^ 
1.  ^^  Oratio  de  pace  restituta  et  de  foedere  sancito  apud 
Cameracum,''  Paris,  1528,  8vo^  2.  ^^  Metaphrasis  in  oecor 
nomicon  Aristotelis,*'  Paris,  4to,  without  date.  In  1 5 1 6^ 
be  edited  the  works  of  William  bishop  of  Paris,  in  folio^ 
and  the  same  year  an  edition  of  Pliny's  natural  history, 
with  numerous  corrections,  yet  Hardouin  has  not  men- 
tioned Berauld  among  the  editors  of  Pliny.  He  also  sup- 
plied notes  to  the  Rusticus  of  Politian,  and  published  a 
.**  Greek  and  Latin  Dictionary,"  that  of  Crafton,  with  ad- 
ditions, a  preface,  and  notes.  3*  ^^  Syderali$  Abyssus,'* 
Paris,  1514.  .4.  ^'  Dialogus  quo  rationes  expUcantur  qui- 
bus.dicendiex  tempore  fjsicultas  parari  potest,  &c.''  Lyons, 
1534.  5.  **  De  jurisprudentia  vetere  ac  noviti^  oratio,'*' 
Lyons,  1533.  6.  '^  Enarratio  in  psalmos  LXXI.  et 
CXXX."  Paris,  1529,  4to.  Berauld  was  greatly  respect-* 
ed  by  Stephen  Poucher,  bishop  of  Paris,  and  aftei^wardai' 
archbishop  of  Sens,  a  celebrated  .patron  of  learning  and 
learned  men. — Berauld's  son,  Francis,  born  at  Orleans, 
embraced  the  principles  of  Calvin ;  he  was  esteemed  a  very 
learned  man  and  a  good  Greek  and  Latin  poet.  He  was 
particularly  eminent  for  his  knowledge  of  Greek,  wbic^  he. 
taught  at  Montbeliiard,  Lausanne,  Geneva,  Montargis,  of 
which  last  college  he  was  principal  in  1571,  and  at  Ro- 
chelle.  Henry  Stephens  employed  him  to  translate  part 
of  Appian,  and  preferred  his  translation  to  tliat  of  Cceiiuai 
Secundus  Curio.  ^ 

BERAULT-BERCASTEL  (Anthony  Henry),  born 
about  the  commencement  of  the  last  century,  in  the  coun^ 
try  Qf  Messin  in  France,  wa«  first  a  Jesuit,  thea  cupte  q{ 

1  jG«i|«  pict,-*Moreri,— Bio^.  ymTeneUei 


B  E  R  A  U  L  T.  ft? 

jOrmeville  in  the  diocese  of  Rouen^  and  lastly  canon  of 
Noyou.  He  died  during  the  revolution.  He  commenced 
his  literary  career  in  1754,  with  a  small  poem  on  the  Ca* 
nary-bird,  "  Le  Serin  des  Canaries/'  which  was  followed 
by  the  translation  of  Quivedo,  and  a  collection  of  Idyls. 
He  published  afterwards  in  2  vols.  12mo,  a  poem  on  the 
Promised  Land,  which  had  little  success,  and  was  justly 
censured  for  containing  an  absurd  mixture  of  sacred  and 
profane  history.  He  then  attempted  a  work  more  suitable 
to  his  profession,  had  he  executed  it  well,  an  *^  Ecclesias* 
tf6al  History,"  24  vols.  12mo,  1778  and  following  years. 
This  had  some  success,  and  a  second  edition  was  very  re- 
;cently  (1811)  published  at  Toulouse,  but  it  is  so  far  infe* 
irior  to  Fieuri,  that  it  is  somewhat  surprising  the  French 
public  should  have  endured  it.  He  left  an  abridgment  of 
it  in  manuscript,  in  5  vols.  8vo«  He  was  also  employed 
on  the  "  Journal  Etranger.*'  * 

BERAULT  (Michael),  pastor  and  professor  of  theology 
at  Montauban,  about  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, was  chosen  to  enter  into  conference  with  cardinal 
du  Perron  at  Mantes,  in  L593;  and  in  1598,  wrote  against 
him  *^  Brieve  et  claire  defense  de  la  vocation  des  ministres 
de  TEvangile,'*  8vo.  The  lively  interest  he  took  in  the 
affairs  of  the  duke  of  Rohan,  during  the  civil  wars  of  France, 
induced  him  to  publish  several  writings,  particularly  one, 
in  which  he  maintained  that  the  clergy  were  bound  to  take 
np  arms  and  shed  blood,  for  which  be,  was  censured  by  the 
synod.  Another  BERAULT  (Claude)  succeede'd  D'Her- 
belot,  as  professor  of  the  Syriac  in  the  royal  college  of 
Paris,  but  is  best  known  by  his  edition  of  "  Statins,"  1685, 
2  vols.  4to,  which,  owing  to  most  of  the  copies  having 
been  burnt  by  a  fire  in  the  printing-offibe,  is  the' roost 
scarce  and  dear  of  all  the  Delphin  quartos.  This  author 
died  in  1705.-*-BERAULT  (JosiAs),  an  advocate  of  the 
parliament  of  Rouen  under  Henry  III.  was  born  in  1563, 
and  died  about  1640.  He  published  a  **  Commentaire  sur 
la  Coutume  de  Normandie,'^  1650.  and  1660,  fol.  The 
booksellers  of  Rouen,  in  1626,  republished  this  with  the 
commentaries  of  Godefroi  and  Aviron,  2  vols.  foL  which 
were  again  reprinted  in  1684  and  1776.' 

BERCHEM  (Nicolas),  an  eminent  artist,  was  born  at 
'Haerlem,  in  1624,  and  was  taught  the  first  principles  of 

,    *  Biog.  UntT^rselle.    '  «  Biog.  Vnivf  rse Uc— Moreri. 


2%.  B  E  R  C  H  E  M. 

painting  by  his  father,  Peter  Van  Haerlem,  an  artist  of 
very  mean  abilities^  whose  subjects  were  fiab,  confec- 
tionary, vases  of  silver,  and  other  objects  of  still  life;  but 
he  afterwards  had  the  good  fortune  to  have  some  of  the 
best  masters  of  that  time  for  his  instructors,  and  succes-«> 
sively  was  the  disciple  of  Grebber,  Vangoyen,  Mojaart, 
Jan  Wil9,  and  Weeninx.  He  had  an  easy  expeditious 
manner  of  painting,  and  an  inexpressible  variety  and  beauty 
in  the  choice  of  sites  for  his  landscapes,  executing  them 
with  a  surprising  degree  of  neatness  and  truth.  He  pos« 
sessed  a  clearness  and  strength  of  judgment,  and  a  won* 
derful  power  and  ease  in  expressing  his  ideas;  and  al- 
though his  subjects  were  of  the  lower  kind,  yet  his  choice 
of  nature  was  judicious,  and  he  gave  to  every  subject  as 
much  of  beauty  and  elegance  as  it  would  admit.  The 
leafing  of  his  trees  is  exquisitely  and  freely  touched ;  his 
skies  are  clear ;  and  his  clouds  float  lightly,  as  if  supported 
by  air.  The  distinguishing  characters  of  the  pictures  of 
Berchem^  are  the  breadth  and  just  distribution  of  the  lights ; 
the  grandeur  of  his  masses  of  light  and  shadow;  the  na* 
tural  ease  and  simplicity  in  the  attitudes  of  his  figures,  ex« 
pressing  their  several  characters ;  the  just  degradation  of 
his  distances ;  the  brilliancy  and  harmony,  as  well  as  the 
transparency,  of  his  colouring;  the  correctness  and  true 
perspective  of  his  design ;  and  the  elegance  of  his  compo- 
sition: and,  where  any  of  those  marks  are  wanting,  no 
authority  ought  to  be  sufficient  to  ascribe  any  picture  to 
him.  He  painted  every  part  of  his  subjects  so  extremely 
well,  as  to  render  it  difficult  to  <)etermine  in  which  he  ex- 
celled most;  his  trees,  buildings,  waters,  rocks,  hills,  cat- 
tle, and  figures,  being  all  equally  admirable. 

One  of  the  most  capital  pictures  of  this  master  was 
painted  for  the  principal  magistrate  of  Dort,  in  whose  &l* 
mily  it  is  still  preserved ;  being  a  prospect  of  a  moun- 
tainous country,  enriched  with  a  great  variety  of  sheep^ 
oxen,  goats,  and  figures,  excellently  penciled,  and  most 
beautifully  coloured.  While  iie  was  employed  in  painting 
that  picture,  the  same  burgomaster  bespoke  also  a  land- 
scape from  John  Both,  and  agreed  to  pay  eight  hundred 
guilders  for  each  picture ;  but  to  excite  an  emulation,  he 
promised  a  considerable  premium  for  the  performance 
whigh  should  be  adjudged  the  best.  When  the  pictures 
were  finished,  and  placed  near  each  other  for  a  critical 
examination;  there  appeared  such  an  equality  of  merit  in 


B  E  R  C  HEM.  29 

^ichf  that  he  generously  presented  both  artists  with  an 
equal  sum  above  the  price  which  he  had  stipulated.  Ber« 
chem  Mras  singularly  curious,  in  purchasing  the  finest  prints 
and  designs  of  the  Italian  masters,  as  a  means  of  improving 
his  own  taste ;  and  after  his  death,  that  collection  of  draw- 
ings and  prints  sold  for  a  very  large  sum.  There  was  such 
a  demand  for  h»  works,  that  he  was  generally  paid  before- 
hand ;  and  although  he  was  so  indefatigable,  that  very 
often  he  would  not  move  from  his  easel,  in  the  summer 
months,  from  four  in  the  morning  till  day>-light  failed,  (by 
which  close  application,  he  finished  a  great  number  of 
pictures,)  yet,  at  this  day,  they  are  rarely  to  be  purchased, 
and  always  are  sold  at  an  exttaoidinary  high  price. 

It  is  recorded  of  him,  that  his  wife,  the  daughter  oF  Jan 
Wils,  one  of  his  masters,  througli  her  avarice,  allowed 
him  no  rest,  and  industrious  as  he  was,  she  usually  placed 
herself  under  his  painting-room,  and  when  she  heard  him 
neither  sing  nor  stir,  she  struck  upon  the  ceiling  to  rouse 
him.  She  inf»sted  upon ,  having  all  the  money  he  earned 
.  by  his  labour,  so  that  he  was  obliged  to  borrow  from  his 
scholars  when  he  wanted  money  to  buy  prints,  of  which, 
as  already  noticed,  he  contrived  to  form  an  excellent  col- 
lection. He  passed  ^art  of  his  life  in  the  castle  of  Ben«- 
-theim,  tine  situation  of  which  famiriied  him  with  the  views 
and  animals  which  compose  his  pictures,  but  he  died  at 
Harlaem,  in  16SX  There  are  many  priuts  engraven  by, 
and  after  him ;  the  former  amounting  to  forty-eight,  and 
^e  latter  to  one  hundred  and  thirty  three.  ^ 

BERCHET  (Peter),  a  French  artist,  who  practised  in 
'England,  was  bom  in  franco,  in  1659,  and  at  the  age  of 
fifteen  was  placed  under  the  care  of  La  Fosse,  with  whom 
his  improvement  was  so  considerable,  that  in  three  years 
he  was  qualified  to  be  employed  in  one  of  the  royal  palaces. 
In  1681  he  went  to  England,  where  he  wotdied  under  Ram- 
hour,  a  French  painter  of  architecture ;  and  afterwards  he 
was  engaged  in  different  works  for  several  of  the  English 
nobility.  The  ceiUng  in  the  chapel  of  Trinity  college,  in 
Oxford,  was  painted  by  this  master ;  he  also  painted  the 
staircase  at  the  duke  of  Schomberg's  in  London,  and  the 
summer-house  at  Ranelagh.  His  drawings  in  the  academy 
were  nuich  approved ;  but  towards  the  latter  part  of  his 

1  Pilkington  and  Strait,— Ijtm  of  Painters  omitted  by  De  Piles,  Svo.  p.  94.** 
AifcnrUle. 


30 


B  E  R  C  H  E  T. 


life,  he  only  painted  small  pieces  in  the  historical  atyle^  for 
which  the  subjects  were  taken  from  fabulous  history ;  and 
his  last  performance  was  a  Bacq^analian,  to  which  he  af* 
fixed  his  name  the  very  day  before  he  died,  in  1720. ' 

BERCHORIUS  (Peter),  whose  name  we  find  disguised 
under  Bbrcheure,  Berchoire,  Bercorius,  Bekcheuius; 
&c.  was  bora  in  the  beginning  of  the  foiirteenth  century^ 
at  St»  Pierre*  du-Chemin^  near  Af aillesais,  in  Poitou*  He 
entered  the ,  order  of  the  Benedictines,  and  becaiae  cele« 
brated  for  his  learning,  and  attached  himself  to  cardimtl 
Duprat,  archbishop  of  Aix,  whose  advice  was  very  useful 
to  bim  in  his  writings.  Among  bis  other  accomplishments^ 
be  is  said  to  have  been  so  well  acquainted  with  his  Bible^ 
•  as  to  be  able  to  quote  texts  and  authorities  on  all  subjects 
without  any  assistance  but  from  memory.  He  died  at  Paris 
in  1362,  prior  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Eloy,  since  occu- 
pied by  the  Barnabites,  which  has  induced  some  biogra- 
phers to  think  him  a  member  of  that  order,  but  the  Barr 
nabites  were  not  an  order  until  a  century  after  this  period. 
Berchorius  wrote  several  works  which  are  lost :  those  which 
remain  are  in  3  vols.  fol.  under  the  title  of  ^^  Reductorium> 
Hepertorium,  et  Dictionarium  morale.  utriusqueTestamen- 
ti,  Strasburgh,  1474 ;  Nuremberg,  1499  ;  and  Cologne, 
1631 — 1692.  "  Whoever,*'  says  Warton,  in  his  "His- 
tory of  Poetry,*'  shall  have  the  patience  to  turn  over  a  few 
pages  of  this  immense  treasure  of  muUifarious  erudition^ 
will  be  convinced  beyond  a  doubt,  from  a  general  coinci^ 
dence  of  the  plan,  manner,  method,  and  execution,  that 
the  author  of  these  volumes,  and  of  the  ^^  Gesta  Romano- 
rum,"  must  be  one  and  the  same.  The  ^^  Reductorium*^ 
contains  all  tlie  stories  and  incidents  in  the  Bible,  reduced 
into  allegories.  The  '^  Repertofium"  is  a  dictiojiary.  of 
things,  persons,  and  places ;  all  which  are  supposed  to  be 
mystical,  and  which  are  therefore  explained  in  their  mojal 
or  practical  sense.  The  "  Dictionarium  Morale"  is  in  two 
-parts,  and  seems  principally  designed  to  be  a  moral  re- 
pertory.for  students  in  theology."  Mr.  Warton  successfully 
pursues  this  argument  in  his  ^<  Dissertation  on  the  Gesta 
Romanorum,"  to  which  we  refer  the  reader.  He  mentions 
also  that  Berchorius  was  either  of  a  comntent  on  a  pr6sody 
called  ^  Doctrinale  metricum,"  which  was.used  asascbool* 
book  in  France^  till  Despauter's  manual  on  that  subject 

'  tord  Orford's  Works,  vol.  HI.— Pilkingtoo.— Stnitt. 


BEtlCHORlUS.  31 

« 

appeared.  Some  biographers  mention  his  *^  Tropologia,*' 
his  "  Cosmograpbia,"  and  his  "  Breviarium ;"  but  the 
"  Tropologia**  is  nothing  more  than  his  "  Reductorium" 
on  the  Bible,  and  probably  the  ^'  Breviarium''  is  the  same. 
The  *'  Cosmograpbia"  seemis  to  be  the  fourteenth  book  of 
his  *'  Repertorium  Morale."  He  is  said  by  his  biographers 
to  have  written  other  smaller  pieces,  which  they  have  not 
named  nor  described.  Among  these,  Mr.  Warton  thinks 
his  ^*  Gesta'*  is  comprehended  :  which  we  may  conceive  to 
have  been  thus  undistinguished,  either  as  having  been 
neglected  or  proscribed  by  graver  writers,  or  rather  as 
having  been  probably  disclaimed  by  its  author,  who  saw  it 
at  length  in  the  light  of  a  juvenile  performance,  abounding 
in  fantastic  and  unedifying  narrations,  which  he  judged 
unsuitable  to  his  character,  studies,  and  station.  Besides 
the  works  above-mentiohed,  Berchorius  translated  Livy, 
by  order  of  king  John,  of  which  there  was  a  beautiful  MS. 
in  the  library  of  the  oratory  of  Troyes,  and  other  copies, 
not  less  beautiful,  are  in  the  imperial  library  at  Paris. 
This  translation  was  published  in  1514 — 1515,  at  Paris, 
3  vols.  fol.  * 

BERCKRINGER  (Daniel),  who  was  born,  according 
to  Vossius,  in  the  Palatinate,  studied  at  Groningen.  He 
became  tutor  to  the  children  of  the  king  of  Bohemia,  and 
was  by  the  queen's  interest  appointed  professor  of  philoso- 
phy at  Utrecht,  1640,  and  eight  years  afterwards  professor 
of  eloquence.  He  succeeded  also  in  poetry,  but  his  style 
has  been  objected  to  as  containing  many  new*coined  words 
and  affected  phrases.  He  died  July  24,  1667,  leaving  se* 
veral  works,  of  which  the  principal  were,  1 .  "  Exerctta- 
tiones  ethicae,  ceconomicee,  politics,"  Utrecht,  1664.  2. 
**  Dissertatio  de  Cometis,  utrum  sint  signa,  an  causae,  an 
Qtrumque,  an  neutrum,"  Utrecht,  lt)65,  i2mo.  He  wrote 
also  against  Hobbes,  **  Examen  elementorum  philosopfaico- 
rum  de  bono  cive,"  which  remains  in  manuscript.' 

BEREGANI  (Nicholas,  Count),  an  Italian  author  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  was  born  at  Vincenza,  Feb.  2^, 
fte7.  When  only  nineteen  years  old,  he  was  honoured 
by  the  king  of  France,  Louis  IH.  with  the  ribbon  of  St. 
Michael  and  the  title  of  chevalier.  In  1649,  his  family 
wei^  promoted  to  the  rank  of  nobility  at  Venipe.     In  that 

*  * 

1  Bio;.  UnJverselle. — Warton't  Hist  toI.  III.— Dujj^io, — Morerj. 
'  Moreri.-«Biog.  Uoiv«neU«.    - 


32 


B  E  R  E  O  A  N  t 


republic  be  distinguished  himself  at  the  bar,  Qspecially 
when  he  returned  to  Venice,  which  he  bad  been  obliged 
to  leave  for  a  time  in  consequence  of  some  indiscretion. 
At  his  leisure  hours  he  cultivated  polite  literature,  an.d  par- 
ticularly poetry  and  history.  His  poems  are  not  without 
ease  and  elegance,  although  in  other  respects  they  partake 
largely  of  the  vicious  and  affected  style  pf  his  age.  Ho 
died  at  Venice,  Dec.  17,  1713,  and  preserved  to  the  last 
his  love  of  study.  Besides  five  dramatic  pieces,  all  set  to 
music,  he  wrote  1.  ^^  Istoria  delle  guerre  d^Europa  delle 
comparsadellearmiOttomaneneir  Ungheria  I'anno  16S3,*' 
Venice,  2  vols.  4to.  These  two  parts  were  to  have  been 
followed  by  four  others,  two  of  which  were  put  to  piress  ia 
1700,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  they  were  ever  published, 
2.  *^  Composizioni  poetiche  consistent!  in  rimesacre,eroir'hey 
morali  ed  amorose,"  Venice,  1702,  12mo.  3.  "  Opere  de 
Claudio  Claudiano  tradotte  ed  arrichite  di  erudite  annota- 
zioni,"  Venice,  1716,  2  vols.  8vo.  This  translation  is  ia 
high  esteem,  and  the  notes,  although  not  so  erudite  as  the 
title  expresses,  are  yet  useful  ^ 

BE;RENGARIUS,  or  BERENGER  (James),  a  physi- 
cian and  anatomist  of  tiie  sincteenth  century,  was  a  native 
of  Carpi  in  Modena,  whence  some  biographers  have  called 
him  by  the  name  of  Carpius,  or  Carpensis.  He  took  hi$ 
doctor^s  degree  at  Bologna,  and  first  ta^ght  anatomy,  ^nd 
surgery  at  Pa  via.     He  afterwards  returned  to  Bologna  in 

1520,  and  taught  the  same  studies.  He  was  there,  how- 
ever, accused  of  having  intended  to  dissect  two  Spaniards 
who  had  the  venereal  disorder,  and  had  applied  to  him  for  * 
advice,  which,  it  was  said,  he  meant  to  perform  whil^ 
they  were  alive,  partly  out  of  his  hatred  to  that  nation^ 
and  partly  for  his  own  instruction.  Whatever  may  be  in 
this  report,  it  is  certain  that  he  was  obliged  to  leave  Bo« 
logna,  and  retire  to  Ferrar^^  where  he  died  in  1550.  By 
his  indefatigable  attention  to  the  appearances  of  disease^ 
and  especially  by  his  frequent  dissections,  which  in  his 
time,  were  quite  sufficient,  without  any  other  demerit,  to 
raise  popular  prejudices  against  him,  he  was  enabled  to 
advance  the  knowledge  of  anatomy  by  many  important  dis-» 
coveries.  His  works  were,  1.  ^^  Commentaria,  cum  am« 
plissimis  additionibus,  super  anatomia  Myhdini,"  Bolbgoat 

1521,  1552,  4to,  and  translated  into  English  by  Jackson, 

1  Biog.  UaiverseUe. 


B  E  R  E  N  G  A  R  I  U  S.  3f 

London,  1664.  2.  ^^  IsagogH)  breves  in  anatomiam  eorporis 
humani,  cum  aliquot  figuris  anatoraicis,''  Bologna,  1522, 
4 to,  and  often  reprinted.  3.  "  De  Cranii  fractura,  tracta- 
tus,"  Bologna,  15 IS,  4to,  also  often  reprinted.  He  was 
one  of  the  first  who  employed  mercury  in  the  cure  of  the 
venereal  disease. ' 

BERENC  ARIUS,  «»r  BERENGER,  the  celebrated  arch- 
deacon of  Angers,  was  born  at  Tours  in  the  beginning  of 
the  eleventh  century,  of  an  opulent  family,  and  "becajne 
the  disciple  of  the  famous  Fulbert  of  Chartres,  under  whomt 
he  made  rapid  progress  in  grammar,  rhetoric,  dialectic,  and 
what  were  then  called  the  liberal  arts.  On  his  return  to  his 
country  in  1030,  he  was  appointed  scholastic,  or  master 
of  the  school  of  St.  Martin.  His  reputation  soon  reaching 
foreign  parts,  the  number  of  his  scholars  greatly  increased, 
and  many  of  them  were  afterwards  advanced  to  high  rank 
in  the  church ;  nor  did  he  quit  his  school  when  made  arch- 
deacon of  Angers  in  1039.  The  opinions,  which  have 
given  him  a  name  in  ecclesiastical  history,,  were  said  to 
have  been  first  occasioned  by  a  pique.  In  a  dispute  with 
Lran franc,  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  on  a  very  trivial  ques- 
tion, he  happened  to  be  defeated,  and  what  was  worse, 
his  scholars  began  to  go  over  to  that  rival.  Berengarius, 
on  this,  took  Erigena  for  his  model,  and  attacked  the  mys- 
tery of  the  eucharist,  as  the  popish  writers  term  it,  but  in 
plain  language,  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  Bruno, 
bishop  of  Angers,  Hugh,  of  Langres,  and  Adelman,  of 
Brescia,  in  vain  endeavoured  to  cure  him  of  his  heresy, 
and  his  writings,  which  were  taken  to  Rome,  were  con- 
demned in  two  councils  held  by  pope  Leo  IX.  in  1050,  and 
himself  excommunicated.  He  then  went  to  the  abbey  of 
Preaux  in  Normandy,  hoping  to  be  protected  by  duke 
William,  surnamed  the  Bastard,  but  that  young  prince 
summonsed  a  meeting  of  the  ablest  bishops  and  divines, 
who  again  condemned  Berengarius,  and  the  council  of 
Paris,  in  Oct.  1050,  deprived  him  of  all  his  benefices. 
This  loss  he  is  said  to  have  felt  more  severely  than  their 
spiritual  inflictions,  and  it  disposed  him  to  retract  his  sen- 
timents in  the  council  of  Tours,  in  1055,  in  consequence 
of  which  he  was  received  into  church-communion.  In  1059 
he  wa§  cited  to  the  council  at  Rome,  by  pope  Nicholas  XL 
and  having  been  confuted  by  Abbo  and  Lanfranc,  he  ab** 

'  BiQ£*  Univecftelle.— Hall€r  BibU  AmL 


t*  B  E  R  EN  O  A  R  I  US. 

jored  hi!{  efror^^  biitnl  his  b.ooks,  yet  had  no  fstKftitt 
reached  France,  than  he  protested  llg&inBt  h\i  recantatidni 
as  extorted  by  feai"^  and  returned  to  his  i^udie^  with  the 
same  spirit  of  inqtaity.  At  length,  however,  Giregory  Vll 
having  called  a  new  council  atRomeiii  1078^  Berengev 
more  seriously  abjured  his  opinions,  rettirned  to  France^ 
and  passed  th6  f^maiiiing  years  of  his  life  in  privacy  lind 
jpenance.  He  died  Jan.  ^,  lO^S^  aged  nittety»  Th^fd 
bare  been  ianany  disputes  betwixt  protestant.  and  popish 
authors,  ^  to  th^  reality  or  sincerity  of  his  final  retianta^ 
lion.  His  sentiments,  however,  did  not  perish  on  his  re- 
cantation^ or  his  d^ath)  tod  he  inay  be  considered  as  havv»^ 
ing  contributed  to  that  great  reformation  in  the  church 
which  afterwards  Was  carried  into  luting  effect  by  his  suc- 
cessors^ The  greater  part  of  his  works  are  lost,  but  some 
are  preservt^d  amoi^g  the  works  of  Lanfranc,  in  the  ^lec« 
tions  of  d'Acheri  and  Martentie;  lind>  in  1770)  Lessingdis*^ 
covered!  atid  published  his  answeif  to  LanfbilEl6>  *^  Dt  cor^ 
j^One  et  sanguine  Je^ju  Christie'*  * 

BERENGER  DE  LA  TOUft>  A  French  poet  of  thd 
sixteenth  century,  was  boTn  at  Albena^  or  A«A>eR^B  in  thd 
Vivarais.  FttMn  the  preface  to  c^ie  of  hfe  Works  it  appear^ 
that  he  st\^led  law^  aild  that  his  family  had  intended  him 
for  some  post  in  the  magistracy^  but  that  he  had  $Dund 
lieisnre  to  cultiva(^  his  poetical  talents^  in  which  he  was  not 
unsuccessful.  His  verees  are  easy  and  natural.  The  great-^ 
4fcr  part  were  addressed  to  the  poets  of  his  time,  many  of 
whose  names  ^r^  wot  much  knoWn  now^  at  to  persons  of 
distinctio)f).  We  learn  from  on-e  of  his  pieces  that  he  lived 
*nder  Francis  I.  ft^om  another^  undter  Henry  H.  and  it  is 
Supposed  that  he  died  about  1559*  His  J>ublish€d  works^ 
are,  l.  "  Le  Sifecle  d^or,''  and  other  ff^^etn^  Lyons^  1551, 
«vo*  2.  "  Ghoreide,'^'  or,  "  Louange  dA  ©al  auX  Dames,'' 
ibid.  1556,  8vo.  3.  ^^  L'Amie  des  Amies>'*  »n  imitation  of 
AriostOj  in  four  books^  ibid.  1558,  8vo.  4.  "  L'Amie  rns* 
tique/'  and  other  poems,  ibid.  15^8^  iva  iRiis  last>  a 
Work  of  great  rarity,  is  |5rinted  with  a  species  of  contract 
tiofis  and  abbreviations  which  render  the  perusal  of  it  very 
difficult.* 

BERENGER  (JottN  Peter),  a  French  miscelkneous 
writer,  was  born  at  Geneva  in  1^40,  and  in  early  life  quit* 
ted  the  meehamcal  employment  to  which  he  had  been  des<^ 

1  Duptn. — Mosherm,*— Biog.  UiRivenreile.-i*M<Jrferi.»«-8Axii  Ooomasticoii. 
•  Bioj.  Universelle. 


B  E  R  E  N  G  E  H.  iS 

fined  by  his  parents,  for  tbose  studies  to  which  he  was  in^i 
Tited  by  thte  political  troubles  of  his  country.  As  by  birth 
he  was  classed  among  those  who  are  at  Geneva  called  fza- 
tiv^Sf  but  who  do  not  acquire  the  rank  of  citizens,  because! 
born  of  foreign  parents,  his  first  effort  was  to  establish,  in 
some  of  his  writings,  the  necessity  of  equal  political  rights. 
This  dispute  being  referred  to  arms,  Berenger,  after  his 
party  was  defeated,  was  banished,  along  with  many  others, 
by  a  decree  of  the  sovereign  power,  February  10,  1770. 
On  this  be  retired  to  Lausanne,  and  employed  his  timef 
in  various  literary  undertakings,  until  his  rieturn  to  Geneva^ 
where  he  died  in  Juue,  1807.  He  published,  L  An  edi- 
fion  of  the  works  of  Abauzit.  2.  ^'  Histoire  de  Geneve^ 
depuis  son  origine  jusqu'a  nos  jours,"  1772 — 75,  6  volsw 
l2mo.  in  this,  the  more  distant  ages  are  given  in  a  sum- 
mary manner,  having  been  suflSciently  detailed  by  Spon, 
but  n»uch  tight  is  thrown  upon  the  political  history  or  the 
last  century,  which  he  brings  down  to  176^1,  and  to  which 
m  f .  IfYvernois*  work,  *^  Tableau  historique  de  revolutions 
de  Geneve,**  may  be  considered  as  a  sequel.  3^.  '^  Geo- 
graphie  de  Busching  abregee,  &c.'**  Busching's  work  is 
here  abridged  in  some  parts  and  enlarged  in  others;  Lau-^ 
sanne,  1776—79,  I^vols.  8vo.  4.  *^*  Collection  de  tous 
les  voyages  faits  autour  de  monde,'*  1788-^—90,  9  vols,  8vo^ 
repTinted  in  1795.  5.  "  Amants  Republicains,  ou  Lettres 
de  Nicias  et  Cynire,*'  1782,  2  vols.  8vo,  a  political  romance 
relating,  to  the  troubles  of  Geneva.  6.  ^^  Cours  de  geogra- 
phic historique,  ancienne  et  moderne  de  feu  Ostervald/* 
1803  and  1805,  2  vols.  12mo.  7.  An  edition  of  the  "  Dic- 
tionnaire  geographique'^  of  Vosgien  (Ladvocat),  1805,  Svo. 
S.  Translations  from  the  English  of  *^  Laura  and  Auguis- 
tu^i**  and  of  "  Cook's  Voyages.'*  9.  "  J.  J.  Rousseau  jxisti- 
tf€  envers  sa  patrie  ;**  and  some  lesser  pieces  mentioned  ia 
Ersch's  •''  France  Litteraire.**  M  Bourrit  attributes  to  hinv 
a  translation  of  Howard's  history  of  Prisons,  but  this,,  k  is 
thought,  was  executed  by  mademoiselle  Keralio.  * 

BEKENGER  (Richaad),  esq.  many  years  gieiitlemain  of 
tfie  horse  to  his  majesty,  a  man  of  considerable  literary  ta- 
tents,  and  for  his  personal  .accompliskments  called,  by  Dr. 
Jfohnson,  "  the  standard  of  true  elegance,"  published^  ii^ 
1771,  '^The  History  and  Art  of  Horsemanship,'*  2  vols. 
U%  iUu&tjrated  witk  plates^    The  bi»toFy^  wbicb'  oooupiies 

}  Biog.  Universellv. 

©   2  - 


46  BERENGE  li- 

the first  volume,  displays  much  research  and  acquaintance, 
with  the  classics  and  with  other  writers  of  remote  antiquity. 
Previously  to  this,  Mr.  Berenger  contributed  three  excel- 
lent papers.  No.  79,,  156,  and  202,  to  the  "  World,"  and 
in  Dodsley's  collection  are  a  few  of  bis  poems,  written  with 
ease  and  elegance.  He  died  in  his  sixty- second  year, 
Sept.  9,  1782.* 

BERENICIUS,  a  man  utterly  unknown,  who  appeared 
inlHolland  in  1670,  was  thought  to  be  a  Jesuit,  or  a  rene- 
gade from  some  other  religious  fraternity.  He  got  his  bread 
by  sweeping  chimnies  and  grinding  knives,'  and  died  at 
length  in  a  bog,  suffocated  in  a  fit  of  druhkennes^.  His 
talents,  if  the  historians  that  mention  him  are  to  be  credit^ 
ed,  were  extraordinary.  He  versified  with  so  much  ease, 
that  he  could  recite  extempore,  and  in  tolerably  good 
poetry,  whatever  was  said  to  him  in  prose.  He  has  been 
known  to  translate  the  Flemish  gazettes  from  that  language 
into  Greek  or  Latin  verse  with  the  utmost  facility.  The 
dead  languages,  the  living  languages,  Greek,  Latin,  French, 
and  Italian,  were  as  familiar  to  him  as  his  mother  tongue* 
He  could  repeat  by  heart  Hors^ie,  Virgil,  Homer,  Aristo- 
phanes, and  several  pieces  of  Cicero  and  of  the  Plinies ; 
and,  after  reciting  long  passages  from  them,  point  out  the 
book  and  the  chapter  from  whence  they  were  taken.  It  is 
supposed  that  the  ^^  Georgarchontomachia  sive  expugn^tta* 
Messopolis^^  is  by  him.  * 

BERETIN.     See  BERRETINL 

BERG  ^JOHN  Peter),'  a  learned  divine,  was  born  at 
Bremen,  September  3,  1737,  and  died  at  Duisbourg,  March 
3,  1800.  He  was  distinguished  as  a  theologian  and  philo- 
sopher, and  a  man  of  very  extensive  learning.  He  was 
eminently  skilled  in  the  Oriental  languages,  particulai'ly 
the  Araibic,  and  for  many  years  acquired  much  fame  by  his 
lectures  on  the  holy  scriptures,  in  the  university  pf  Duis- 
bourg. He  published,  1.  "  Specimen  animadversionum 
philologicarum  ad  selecta  Veteris  Testamenti  loca,"  Ley- 
den,  1761,  8vo.  2.  "  Symbolse  litterarise  Duisburgenses 
ad  ipcrementum  scientiarum  a  variis  amicis  amice  collatde, 
ex  Haganis  factae  Duisburgenses, '^'  vol.  I.  1783;  vol.  II. 
1784 — 6.  If  this  be  the  saijicf  work  with  his  "  Museum 
Duisburgense,"  it  is  a  sequel  to  the  "  Musasum  Hag«inum,^' 

1  British  Essayists^  Preface  tothe  Wbrldt—Tbrale's  Aneodotes,  and  Bo$«v€)H9 
Life  of  Johnson. 
'  Af  Qceri. 


BERG.  37 

by  the  learned  professor  Barkey,  minister  of  the  G^mau 
church  at  the  Hague. ' 

BERGALLI  (Charles),  an  Italian  monk  of  the  order 
of  the  minorite  conventuals^  was  born  at  Palermo,  and  in 
1650,  when  he  officiated  during  Lent  at  Bologna,  acquired 
high  reputation  as  a  preacher.  He  was  professor  of  philo** 
sophy  and  divinity  in  the  convents  of  his  order,  provincial 
in  Sicily,  and  superintendant  of  the  great  convent  of  Pa« 
lermo,  where  he  died,  November  17,  1679.  He  published 
a  philosophical  work,  or  at  least  a  work  on  philosophy,  en* 
titled  "  De  objecto  philosophise,"  Perug.  1649,  4to;  and 
it  is  said  that  he  wrote  an  Italian  epic  poem  called  ^^  Davi* 
diade,*'  a  collection  entitled  *^  Poesis  miscellanea,"  and 
an  elementary  work  on  medicine,  **  Tyrocinium  medico 
facultatis ;"  but  these  have  not  been  printed.  * 

BERGALLI  (Louisa),  an  Italian  poetess,  was  born 
April  15,  1703,  and  appeared  from  her  infancy  capable  of 
making  a  6gure  in  the  literary  world.  Her  father,  although 
of  a  genteel  family  of  Piedmont,  was  ruined  by  various  mis- 
fortunes, and  at  length  set  up  a  shoemaker^s  shop  in  Venice, 
where  he  acquired  some  property.  His  daughter  Louisa, 
one  of  a  numerous  family,  discovered  first  a  ta^te  for  em- 
broidery, then  for  drawing  and  painting,  in  which  she  was 
instructed  by  the  celebrated  female  artist  Rosalba  Carriera; 
nor  did  she  make  less  progress  in  literature,  philosophy, 
and  languages.  She  learned  French  of  her  father,  and 
Latin  under  an  excellent  master,  and  in  the  course  of  this 
study  she  translated  some  of  the  comedies  of  Terence. 
Having  conceived  a  particular  taste  for  dramatic  poetry, 
she  received  some  instructions  from  Apostolo  Zeno.  As 
soon  as  her  talents  were  known,  places  both  lucrative  and 
honourable  were  offered  to  her  at  Rome,  Poland,  Spain,  and 
Milan,  but  she  would  not  quit  Venice,  her  native  country,  and 
continued  her  studies  until  the  age  of  thirty^five,  when  she 
married  count  Gaspard  Gozzi,  a  noble  Venetian,  known  ia 
the  literary  world  for  his  Italian  dramas  and  other  works. 
She  lived  with  him  very  happily,  and  bore  five  children, 
whom  she  educated  with  great  care.  The  time  of  her 
•death  is  not  mentioned.  Her  principal  works  are,  1.  **  A- 
gide  re  di  Sparta,''  a  musical  drama,  Venice,  1725,  12mo. 
.  2.  «  La  Teba,"  a  tragedy,  ibid.  1728,  8vo.  3,  "  L'Ele- 
nia,"  musical  drama,  ibid.  1730,  12mo.     4.  *<  Le  Awcn- 


1  Biog.  Unirerselle. — Month.  ReTf  vol.  L^l.  p.  4€7, 
9  i^oreriy-r^iog.  Unirerselle^ 


58  B  E  R  G  A  I>  L  I. 

* 

ture  del  poeta^"  CQPaedy,  ibid,  1730,  8vo,  5. '"  El^Ura,"-  * 
tragedy,  ibid.  1743,  12mo.  6.  "  La  Bradapaapte,"  musi- 
cal dramq.,  ibid.  1747,  12ino.  7,  "  Le  Coinmedie  di  Te- 
renzio  tradotto  in  versi  scioUi,"  ibid,  1733,  8vo.  ^,  Trans- 
|a:tions  from  Racine  and  other  dramatic  poets  of  France. 
9.  '*  Componimenti  poetici  delle  piu  iUnstn  rima<;rici  d'og-* 
pi  secolo,'*  ibid.  1726,  l2mo,  Many  of  her  sonnets  an4 
lesser  pieces  appeared  froih  time  to  time  in  various  collec- 
tions. * 

BERGAMO,     See  FORESTI. 

BERGANTINI  (John  Peter),  an  Italian  author  of  the 
last  century,  was  born  at  Venice,  October  4,  16»l.^  He 
jjtudied  for  eight  years  in  the  Jesuil;s'  college  of  Bolggnai 
and  on  his  return  to  his  own  country,  after  a  course  of  civil 
und  canon  law,  was  created  doctor  in  17d6,  Hel^egan 
then  to  practise  at  the  bar,  where  he  bad  considerable  suc- 
cess, until  he  arrived  at  the  twenty-fourth  year  of  bis  agei, 
when  he  suddenly  changed  his  profession,  and  entered  the 
order  of  the  Theatinsj  January  12,  1711.  He  was  gome 
years  after  called  to  Rome,  by  the  general  of  the  order,  and 
appointed  their  secretary;  and  such  was  his  reputation 
among  them,  that  he  obtained  a  dispensation,  never  before 
granted  by  that  society,  to  confess  women,  si^  year§  before 
the  time  prescribed  by  their  laws.  He  afterwards  devoted 
much  of  his  time  to  preaching,  through  the  principal  cities 
of  Italy.  On  his  return  to  Venice  in  1726,  be  determined 
to  settle  there,  dividing  his  time  between  the  duties  of  his 
profession,  and  the  study  of  the  best  ancient  authors,  and 
those  of  his  own  country.  His  first  publications  were  ha- 
rangues, panegyrics,  and  funeral  orations,  few  of  which 
survived  him,  but  the  following  works  were  thought  entitled 
to  more  durable  fame:  1.  A  translation  of  Thuanus  "  D^ 
re  Accipitraria,"  and  of  Bargee's  "  Ixeuticon,"  nnd^r  the 
title  of  "  II  Falconiere  di  Jacopo  Aug.  Thuano,  &c»  with 
the  Latin  text  and  learned  notes,  Venice,  1735,.  4tjOt 
?.  A  translation  of  Vaniere's  **  Prsedium  rusticumj"  en» 
titled  *'  Delia  Possessione  di  Campagna,"  Venice,  1748, 
8vo,  unluckily  taken  from  the  edition  of  1706,  the  tranala* 
tor  not  being  acquainted  with  that  of  1730.  He  translated 
also  cardinal  de  Polignac's  **  Anti-Lucretius,''  Verona, 
175d,  Svo^  and  published  an  improvement  of  the  de  la 
Ci:M§ca  dicuonary,  uuder  the  title  "  Delia  volgar^  elocu* 


B  E  S  O  A  N  T  I  N  L  W 

%iwe,  illu^ty^toy  ampUctta  e  faciUtata,  ^ol.  I.  contenente 
A-  B«''  YeaicQ,  174O9  folio.  Tbe  bookseller  being  unstio* 
€e$«ful  in  the  sale;  this  volume  only  appeared,  but  the 
aiitbor,  in  1743,  published  a  prospectus  in  wbiob  he  pro« 
£9s^d  to  have  re-^modelled  the  work,  and  reduced  it  front . 
twelve  volufne^  to  iix.  This,  however,  still  remains  in  ma* 
nuscript,  with  many  pther  works  from  his  pen.  Our  aatho- 
rity  does  not  mention  bi$  death.  ^ 

BKBGELLANLJS  (John  Arnold),  the  author  of  a  poem 
in  praise  of  printing,  written  in  Latin  hexameters  and  pen* 
tafpoterst  has  isscaped  the  research^  qf  biographers  as  to 
much  personal  history.  It  is,  however,  conjectured,  that 
his  prQPi^r  name  was  Arnold  or  Arnoldi,  and  that  he  was 
called  ]^ergellanus  from  his  country.  It  is  supposed  also 
that  he  caine  to  M^nte,  and  was  employed  tiiere,  either 
as  a  worknaaui  or  as  a' corrector  of  the  press.  John  Conrad 
ZieltqQf,  who  is  pf  this  last  opinion,  has  apcerdin^ly  as« 
signed  hiui  a  short  article  in  his  Latin  history  of  the  oor« 
rectors  of  the  press,  p.  79,  80,  where  he  calls  him  John 
Anthony,  iqst^ad  of  John  Arnold.  Struvias  (Intiod.  in 
not.  rei  litterarise,  p.  892)  considers  Bergellanus  as  th^ 
first  historian  of  printing,  but  in  this  he  is  mistaken.  Men* 
tel,  in  bis  **  Pafs^nesis  de  vera  origine  Typographic,  p.  52, 
s^ys  that  Bergellanus's  poem  was  printed  in  1510,  which 
could  not  be  the  case,  as  mention  is  made  in  it  of  Oharles 
V.  who  was  not  emperor  until  1519.  Walkius,  who  wrotd 
in  1608,  asserts  that  Bergellanus.wrote  or  published  hii| 
poem  eighty -years  before^  which  brings  us  to  15120,  but  in 
fact  it  was  not  written  or  published  until  1540  and  154 J,  as 
appears  oli^afly  by  the  author's  dedication  to  cardinal  Al- 
bert, archbishop  of  Mentz  and  marquis  of  Brandebourg. 
TberQ  h^ye  been  six  editions  of  it,  separate  or  joined  to 
other  works  on  the  subject.  The  two  last  are  by  Prosper 
Marchand  in  his  History  of  Printing,  Hague,  1740,  4to, 
a^d  by  Wplfius  in  his  ^^  Monumenta  typo^aphica.'*  * 

BEflGEN  (Chahles  Augustus  de),  a  German  an^o« 
quist  aqd  botanist,  was  bom  August  11,  1704,  at  Francfort 
on  the  Oder.  His  father,  John  George  Bergen,  was  pro« 
fessor  of  anatomy  and  botany  in  that  university.  After  his 
early  studies,  his  father  gave  him  some  instructions  in  tlie 
prineiples  of  medicine,  and  then  sent  him  to  Leyden, 
Yii^ffi  he  studied  under  Bo^riiaave  and  Albinus.     He  also 

I  B'lQs*  UpirtrseUg,  >  Moreri. 


40  R  E  R  G  E  N. 

I 

went  to  Paris  for  farther  improvement  in  anatomy.  The 
reputation  of  Saltzman  and  Nicolai  next  induced  him  to 
pass  some  time  at  Strasburgb,  and  after  visiting  other  cele- 
brated universities  in  Germany,  he  returned  to  Francfort, 
and  took  his  doctor's  degree  in  1731.  The  following  year 
he  was  appointed  professor-extraordinary,  and,  in  1738, 
succeeded,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  to  the  chair  of  ana- 
tomy and  botany.  In  1744  he  became  professor  of  thera- 
peutics and  pathology,  in  room  G[f  Goelicke,  which  he  re- 
tained with  high  credit  until  his  death,  October  7,  1760,  on 
which  occasion  his  life,  in  the  form  of  an  eloge,  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Leipsic  Medical  Commentaries,  vol.  IX. 

Bergen  is  the  author  of  a  great  many  works  on  botany, 
and  various  branches  of  natural  history.  In  1742  he  pub- 
lished a  dissertation  to  prove  the  superiority  of  the  system 
of  Linnaeus  to  that  of  Tournefort,  but  afterwards  he 
changed  his  opinion,  and  his  **  Francfort  Flora,''  published 
in  1750,  is  arranged  on  the  Tournefortian  system,  although 
with  improvements.  This  Flora  was  originally  only  a  new 
edition  of  the  "  Vade  Mecum"  of  Johrenius,  one  of  his 
predecessors  in  the  botanical  chair,  but  unquestionably  his 
additions  were  then  new  and  important.  -  He  also  proposed 
|L  new  classification  of  shells,  published  observations  on  the 
anatomy  of  frogs,  and  several  dissertations  or  memoirs  on 
various  plants  and  animals.  His  academical  dissertations 
on  anatomy  were  published  by  Haller,  who  particularly 
praises  those  on  the  intercostal  nerve  and  on  the  cellular 
membrane.      His  works  not  included  in  that  collection  are, 

1.  "Icon  nova  ventriculorum  cerebri,"   Francfort,   1734. 

2.  "  Programma  de  pia  matre,"  Nuremberg,   1736,  4to. 

3.  ^^  Programma  de  nervis  quibusdam  cranii  ad  novem  pa- 
ria  hactenus  non  relatis,"  Francfort,  1738.  4.  "  Methodus 
cranii  ossa  dissuendi,  et  machined  hunc  in  finem  constructae, 
delineatio,"  1741,  4to.  5.  ^*  Pentas  obervationum  anato- 
mico-physiologicarum,"  1743,  4to.  6.  "  Elementa  physi- 
ologiae,"  Geneva,  1749,  8vo,  after  the  manner  of  Boer- 
haave's  Institutes.  7.  ^^  Anatomes  experimentalis,  pars 
prima  et  secunda,"  Francfort,  1755,  1758,  8vo.  8.  Seve- 
ral dissertations  and  theses,  in  the  medical  journals.  9. 
•*  Programma,"  already  mentioned,  on  the  comparative 
merits  of  the  Linnsean  and  Tournefortian  systems,  Franc-^ 
fort,  1742,  4to;  Leipsic,  1742,  4to.  10.  ^^  Dissertatio  de 
Aloide,"  Francfort,  1753,  4to,  with  a  supplement  in  the 
^ifpv^  Act*  Acad,  Nat.  Curiosor.  vol.  II.     U,  ^^  Catalogue 


BERGEN.  41 

stirpium  quas  hortus  academise  Viadrinse  (Francfort)  com- 
jplectitur,"  1744,  8vo.  12.  "  Flora  Francofurtana,**  ibiel. 
1750,  8vo.  13.  "  Classes  conchyliorutn,"  Nuremberg, 
1760,  4to.  Adanson  consecrated  a  genus  to  the  memory 
of  Bergen  under  the  name  of  Bergena,  but  it  was  nojt 
adopted  by  Linnaeus.  *         , 

BERGER  (John  Henry  de),  a  learned  lawyer,  was  born 
at  Gera,  Jan.  27,  1657,  and  studied  at  Halle,  Leipsic,  and 
Jena.  He  afterwards  was  appointed  professor  of  law  at 
Wittemberg,  and  counsellor  at  Dresden.  In  1713, 
Charles  VI.  invited  him  to  Vienna  in  quality  of  aulic 
counsellor  of  the  empire,  and  he  died  there  November 
25,  1732.  Of  his  qumerous  works,  which  have  been  often 
reprinted,-  the  following  are  the  principal:  1.  "Electa 
processus  executivi,  processorii,  provocatorii  et  inatri- 
monialis,"  Leipsic,  1705,  4t().  2.  /*  Electa  disqeptationuia 
forensium,"  the  best  edition  of  which  is  that  of  Th. 
Hayme,  1738,  3  vols.  4to.  3.  "Electa  jurisprudentiae 
criminalis,"  Leipsie,  1706,  4tD.  4.  "  Responsa  ex  omni 
jure,"  1708^  folio.  5.  "  CEconomia  juris,"  1731,  folio. 
Berger  left  three  sons,  Christopher  Henry,  Frederic  Louis, 
and  John  Augustus,  who  all  followed  the  profession  of  the 
law  with  distinguished  merit. ' 

BERGER  (John  William),  brother  to  the  preceding, 
was  professor  of  eloquence  at  Wittemberg,  aulic  counsellor 
to  the  elector  of  Saxony,  Augustus  II.  king  of  Poland,  and 
died  in  1751.  He  wrote  several  interesting  dissertations, 
mostly  on  points  of  ancient  history  and  literature,  among 
which  are,  1.  "  Dissert.  Sex  de  Libanio,"  Wittemberg, 
1696,  1698,  4to.  2.  "  De  antiqua  poetarum  sapientia," 
1699,  4to.  3.  "  De  Virgilio  oratore,"  1705,  4to.  4.  "  Dis- 
sert  tres  de  Lino,"  1707,  4to.  5.  "  Disciplina  Longlni 
selecta,"  1712,  4to.  6.  "  De  Mysteriis  Cereris  et  Bacchi,'* 
1723,  4to.  7.  "  De  Trajano  non  Optimo,"  1725,  4to. 
8.  "  De  Stephanophoris  veterum,"  1725,  4to,  &c.  Saxi- 
us,  who  has  given  a  much  fuller  list  of  his  dissertations, 

E raises  him  as  a  man  of  most  extensive  learning,  and  who 
ad  scarcely  his  equal  in  Germany.  Yet  from  one  of  his 
works  we  should  be  inclined  to  doubt  his  taste.  Among 
those  enumerated  by  Saxius  is  one,  *^  De  naturali  pulchri- 
tudine  orationis,"  1719,  in  which  he  attempts  to  prove 
that  Caesar's  Commentaries  (the  pure^  simple,  and  elegant 
style  of  which  is  more  remote  from  th^  sublime  than  that 

^  ^iop  Uqiveni^Ue,  9  Moreri.— Bio|p.  UniTeneHe.«r^S«xti  OoDinastr 


4«  ^EB^GEIt 

of  s^ny  of  the  classical  ftutbors)  contain  th^  most  cpippleU 
ejcemplification  of  aU  Longiaus's  rul^^  relatttig  to  ^ublim'e 
writing*  After  bi3  de^tb  was  published  ^^  Conspectus  Sib*- 
liothecae  B^rgerianflP ;"  lal^Q  "  Libri  Mawscripti  et  im^ 
pr^si,  coljaji  qum  Manupcriptis  ex  Bibliotbeca  Jo.  Gul.  de 
Bergcr,"  1752,  8vo.     Another  brother,  JoHW  Godfeey  pg 

Bf  R6£^y  was  an  eminent  pbyuician,  and  published,  !• "  Pby* 
aiglpgica  m^dica,"  Witfcenpiberg,  J  701,  and  often  reprinted, 
2.  ^*  De  Therrpis  Carolinis  conmaeatatio^"  ibid.  1709,  4to. 
Ha  died  October  3,  1736,  * 

.  BEBGER  (Theqdqkj5)|  professor  of  law  find  history  at 
Cobourg,  was  horn  at  UnteHautern  in  16S2,  studied  at 
Halle,  and  accompanied  several  young  gentlemen  on  their 
travels.  He  died  November  80/  1773.  His  "  Universal 
History,"  published,  in  German,  at  Cobourg,  fplio,  is  highly 
esteemed  by  his  countrymen,  and  passed  through  five  edi>^ 
tions.  It  has  since  been  continued  by  professor  Wolfgang  • 
JsBger,  1781,  folio. ' 

BERQERAC  (Savinjen  Cyrano  de),  was  born  about 
1630,  in  the  castle  of  Bergerac  in  Perigord,  and  was  at 
first  very  indiffiprently  educated  by  a  poor  country  priest. 
He  afterwards  came  to  Paris,  and  gave  himself  up  to  evpry 
kind  of  dissipation.  He  then  entered  as  a  cadet  in  the 
regiment  of  guards^  *  and  endeavoured  to  acquire  repu- 
tation on  the  score  of  braveryi  by  acting  as  second  in 
many  duels,  besides  those  in  which  he  was  a  principal, 
scarce  a  day  passing  in  which  he  had  not  some  affair  of  this 
kind  on  bis  hands,  Whoever  obser\'ed  his  nose  with  any 
attention,  which  was  a  very  remarkable  ope,  was  sure  to  b^ 
involved  in  a  quarrel  with  him.  The  courage  he  shewed 
upon  these  occasions,  and  some  desperate  actions  in  which 
be  distinguished  himself  when  in  the  army,  procured  him  * 
the  name  of  the  Intrepid,  which  be  retained  to  the  end  of 
his  life.  He  was  shot  through  the  body  at  the  siege  of 
Mouzon,  and  run  through  the  neck  at  the  siege  of  Arras,  in 
1 640;  and  the  hardships  he  suffered  at  these  two  sieges,  the 
little  hopes  be  had  of  preferment,  and  perhaps  his  attach-* 
ment  to  letters,  made  him  renounce  war,  and  apply  himself 
altogether  to  certain  literary  pursuits.  Amidst  all  his  foU 
lies  he  had  never  neglected  literature,  but  often  withdrew 
himself,  during  the  bustle  and  dissipation  of  a  soldier's  life, 
to  read  and  to  write.  He  composed  many  works,  in  which 
be  shewed  some  genius  and  extravagance  of  imagination^ 

1  Biog.  Universelle.— Blair's  Lectures. —iSaxiiOoomasticoa, 


B  E  R  G  £  H  A  C,  «9 

Ms^rsh^l-Gassion,  who  loved  ipen  of  wit  wi  CQi^rstgf,  be*- 
cau^^  he  had  both  biipself,  would  have  B^reerS'C  with  biWf 
but  he,  being  passionately  fond  of  liberty,  looked  Upon  fchi> 
advantage  as  a  constraint  that  would  never  s^gi*^^  with  bim, 
and  therefore  refused  it.  At  length*  how^var,  in  eoiatpli- 
ance  with  his  friends,  who  pressed  him  to  procure  a  patroa 
at  court,  he  overtanme  his  scruples,  and  placed  himself  witb 
the  duke  of  Arpajon  in  1653.  To  this  nobleman  be  dedi** 
cated  his  works  the  same  year,  for  be  bad  published  nop^ 
before,  coni>isting  of  spme  letters  written  ip  bis  yputb,  with 
a  tragedy  on  the  death  of  Agrippina,  widow  of  Germanicus* 
He  afterwards  printed  a  comedy  called  "  The  Pedant," 
but  his  other  works  were  not  printed  till  after  bi?  deatbu 
His  **  Comic  history  of  the  states  and  empires  of  the 
Moon"  was  printed  in  1656.  His  "  Comic  history  of  the 
states  and  empire^  of  the  Sun,"  several  letters  and  dia«- 
Jogues;  and  a  fragment  pf  physics,  were  all  collected  and 
published  afterwards  in  a  volume.  These  comic  histories 
and  fragments  shew  that  he  was  well  at^quainted  with  the 
Caitesian  philosophy,  He  died  in  1 6$ 5,  aged  only  thirty •■ 
five  years,  bis  de^th  being  occasioned  by  a  blow  upon  hi^ 
bead  which  he  unluckily  received  from  the  fall  of  a  piece 
pf  wood  a  few  months  before. 

The  earl  of  Orrery,  in  hiB  "  Ren^arks  on  the  life  and 
writings  of  Swift,"  has  taken  occasion  to  speak  of  bioj  in 
the  following  manner :  "  Cyrano  de  Bergerac  is  a  French 
jiuthor  of  a  singular  character,  who  had  a  very  peculiar  turn 
of  wit  and  humour,  in  many  respects  resembling  that  of 
Swift.  He  wanted  the  advantages  of  learning  and  a  regu* 
Jar  education ;  his  imagination  was  less  guarded  and  cor* 
rect,  but  more  agreeably  extravagant,  He  has  introduced 
into  hi$  philosophical  romance  the  system  of  des  Cartes, 
which  was  then  much  admired,  intermixed  with  several  fin^ 
strokes  of  just  satire  on  the  wild  and  immechaoical  inqui^ 
ries  of  the  philosophers  and  astronomers  of  that  age ;  and 
in  many  parts  he  has  evidently  directed  the  plan  which  the 
dean  oi  St.  Patrick's  has  pursued."  This  opinion  was  first 
quoted  in  the  Monthly  Review  (vol.  XOj  when  Derrick 
translated  and  published  Bergerac's  "  Voyage  to  th^ 
Moon,"  1753,  l^mo.  But  Swift  is  not  the  only  person  iu- 
debted  to  Bergerac.  His  countrymen  allow  that  Moliere, 
in  several  of  his  character^,  Foptenelle*  in  \M  **  Plurality 
of  Worlds,"  and  Voltaire,  in  his  "  Micromegas,*'  have  taken 

many  biuU  and  $ket(:he»  fr^m  (bi^  eceentric  wrilcr.    There 


» 


« 


44  6  fi  H  G  E  R  A  C. 

have  been  various  editions  of  his  works  at  Paris,  Amster* 
dam,  Trevoux^&c. :  the  last  was  printed  at  Paris,  1741,  3 
vols.  12  mo.* 

BERGHEM  (Nicolas.)     See  BERCHEM. 

BERGIER  (Nicolas),  an  eminent  French  antiquary, 
was  born  at  Rhei'ms,  March  1,  1567,  and  not  1557,  as  as-* 
sorted  by  Bayle,  Moreri,  and  Niceron,  After  finishing  his 
studies  at  the  university  of  that  6ity,  he  became  preceptor 
to  the  children  of  count  de  St.  Souplet,  who  always  testi- 
fied his  respect  for  him  on  account  of  the  pains  he  bestowed 
on  their  education.  '  He  then  was  admitted  an  advocate, 
and  appointed  law-professor  and  syndic  of  the  city,  a  place 
which  he  filled  during  many  of  the  elections.  His  talents 
and  virtues  were  so  highly  estimated  by  his  fellow-citizens, 
that  as  a  mark  of  their  confidence  they  employed  him  on 
their  affairs  at  Paris.  During  his  visits  to  that  metropolis, 
he  commenced  a  friendship  with  Dupuy  and  Peiresc,  and 
formed  an  acquaintance  with  the  president  de  Bellievre, 
who  obtained  for  him  the  place  of  historiographer  by  bre- 
vet, with  a  pension  of  two  hundred  crowns.  He  was  on  a 
visit  at  the  country-house  of  this  celebrated  magistrate, 
when  he  was  attacked  by  a  fever,  which  terminated  fatally^ 
August  18,  1623,  in  his  fifty -seventh  year.  The  president 
honoured  him  with  an  affectionate  epitaph,  which  is  printed 
in  his  two  principal  works.  He  is  particularly  known  in  the 
literary  world  by  his  "  Histoire  des  grands  chemins  de 
Tempire  Remain,'*  a  work  in  which  he  was  assisted  by  his 
friend  Peiresc,  who  furnished  him  with  many  necessary 
documents.  It  was  first  printed  in  4to,  1622,  and  in  the 
course  of  a  cenXury  became  very  scarce.  In  1712  the  first 
book  of  it  was  translated  into  English,  and  published  at  Lon- 
don, in  8vo,  entitled  "  The  general  history  of  the  Highways 
in  all  parts  of  the  world,  particularly  ?n  Great  Britain.'*  In 
1728,  John. Leonard,  bookseller  and  printer  at  Brussels, 
published  a  new  edition  of  the  original,  2  vols.  4to,  from  a 
copy  corrected  by  the  author ;  and  one  yet  more  improved 
was  printed  atthe  same  place,  in  1736,  2  vols.  4to.  They 
are  both  scarce,  but  the  first  is  reckoned  the  best  printed. 
It  has  also  been  translated  into  Latin  by  Henninius,  pro- 
fessor in  the  university  of  Duisbourg,  with  learned  notes, 
and  the  remarks  of  the  abbe  Du  Bos,  for  Grsvius's  antiqui- 
ties, vol.  X. ;  but  Bayle  is  mistaken  in  supposing  that  this 

1  Biog,  t7oi¥enene.-*oDict.,  Hist. -^Moreri,  et  UA^ocat  In  Cyrapo, 


B  E  R  G  I  £  R.  45 

work  was  translated  into  Latin  and  Italian  by  Benedict 
Baccbini,  who,  however,  made  some  progress  himself  in  a 
work  <^  De  viis  antiquorum  Romanorum  in  Italia/*  and 
doubtless  would  have  availed  himself  of  Bergier's  labours. 
Besides  this  history  of  the  Roman  roads,  Berg^er  had  be- 
gun a  history  of  Rheims,  the  manuscript  of  which  the  pre" 
sident  de  Bellievre  wished  Andre  Duschesne  to  complete, 
but  some  obstruction  arising  on  the  part  of  the  chapter  of 
Bbeims,  who  refused  Duschesne  access  to  their  archives^ 
he  declined  proceeding  with  the  undertaking.  The  son  of 
the  author,  however,  John  Bergier,  unwilling  that  the  whole 
should  be  lost,  published  the  two  books  left  complete  by  his 
father,  with  a  sketch  of  the  other  fourteen  of  which  it  was  to 
consist.  This  was  entitled  '•  Dessein  de  I'Histoire  de  Reims,** 
ibid.  1635,  4tOw  Bergier  was  also  author  of  1.  ''  Le  point 
du  Jour,  ou  Traits  du  Commencement  des  Jours  et  de  Pen- 
droit  ou  il  est  etabli  sur  la  terre,*'  Rheims,  1629,  ISmo. 
The  first,  a  Paris  edition,  1617,  was  entitled  "  Archeme* 
ron.'*  His  object  is  to  attain  some  general  rule  for  avoid- 
ing the  disputes  respecting  the  celebration  of  the  Catholiq 
festivals.  2,  "  Le  Bouquet  royal,"  Paris,  1610,  8vo; 
Rheims,  1637,  4to>  enlarged,  an  account  of  the  devises 
and  inscriptions  which  graced  the  entrance  of  Louis  XIII. 
into  Rheims.  3.  <*  Police  generale  de  la  France,"  1617. 
4.  Various  Latin  and  French  poems  inserted  in  the  collec- 
tions^ but  we  cannot  pronounce  him  very  successful  as  a 
poet.* 

BERGIER  (Nicolas  Sylvester),  .  a  French  writer  of 
considerable  note,  was  born,  at  Darnay  in  Lorraine,  .Decern* 
ber  31,1718.  In  the  career  of  promotion  he  was  first  cu- 
rate of  Flangebouche,  a  small  village  in  Franche-Comt^, 
then  professor  of  theology,  principal  of  the  college  of  Be- 
.san9on,  a  canon  of  the  church  of  Paris,  and  confessor  to 
the  king's  aunts.  Throughout  life  he  was  one  of  the  most 
strenuous  opponents  of  the  modern  philosophers  of  France* 
^e  acquired  an  early  name  by  some  essays  on  various  lite-t 
xary  subjects,  io  which  the  prizes  were  adjudged  at  Besan- 
{oa ;  and  his  reputation  was  considerably  heightened  by  his 
very  ingenious  .and  plausible  work,  entitled  **  Elements 
primitifs  des  Langues,  &c."  Paris,  1764,  12mo.  Soon  af- 
ter he  published  another,  which  was  favourably  received  by 
|he  learned  world,  *'  Origiae  des  Dieux  du  Paganisme  et 

*  Biog.  .UDiTerselle.T-.-Oen.  Bict.'^NicerQiif  toL  VL<— Moreri.-^Meinoirs  o£ 
|4t9r»t)ire^  roll.  IV.  i«t&d  YIL 


49  B  E  A  O  t  E  It 

le«  sens  de*  Fables  decon vert,  par  tine  eif plication  strivltf 
des  Poesies  d'Hesiode/*  Paris,  1767,  2  vols.  12mo.  When 
about  the  same  time  be  found  religion  attacked  in  every 
quarter  by  a  combination  of  men  of  talents  in  France,  he 
determined^  to  endeavour  to  counteract  their  schemes. 
With  this  view  he  wrote  **  La  Certitude  des  Preuves  dn 
Christianisme,*'  1768,  12mo,  pstrticularly  directed  against 
the  "  Examen  critique  des  Apologistes  de  la  religion  Chre* 
tieime,"  improperly  attributed  to  Freret;  and  it  was  allowed 
to  have  been  written  with  much  sense,  precision,  and  mo- 
deration. This  work,  which  occasioned  more  friends  and 
more '  enemies  to  Bergier  than  any  other,  passed  through 
three  editions  in  the  same  y6ar,  besides  being  translated 
into  Italian  and  Spanish.  Voltaire,  to  whom  the  popularity 
of  any  Writings  of  this  tendency  must  have  been  peculiarly 
unpleasant,  affected  to  answer  it  in  his  **  Conseils  raison- 
ables,"  written  with  his  usual  art,  but  more  remarkable  for 
wit  than  argument,  Bergier  answered  the  *^  Conseils,** 
tlie  only  instance  in  which  he.  noticed  any  of  his  adversaries 
\ti  public.  He  had  another  more  contemptible  antagonist, 
the  noted  Anacharsis  Cloots,  who  published  what  he,  and 
perhaps  no  man  else,  would  have  called  "  Certitude  des 
Preoves  du  Mahometisme.*'  About  this  time  the  blergy  of 
France,  sensible  of  Bergier*s  services,  gave  him  a  pension 
of  two  thousand  livres,  and  offered  him  some  valuable  be- 
nefices, but  he  would  only  accept  of  a  canonry  in  Notre 
Dame,  and  it  was  even  against  his  inclination  that  he  was 
afterwards  appointed  confessor  to  the  mesdames,  the  last 
king's  aunts.  Free  from  ambition,  modest  and  simple  in  ' 
dress  and  manners,  he  was  desirous  only  of  a  retired  life, 
und  at  Paris-he  lived  as  he  had  done  in  the  country,  in  the 
midst  of  his  books.  This  study  produced,  successively, 
!.  **  Le  Deisme  refute  par  lui-meme,"  Paris,  1765,  1766, 
176B,  2  vols.  12mo,  an  examination  of  the  religious  prin- 
ciple of  Rousseau.  2.  "  Apologie  de  la  Religion  Chre- 
tienne  contre  Fauteur  du  Christianisme  devoil^,"  (the  baron 
Holbach)  Paris,  1769,  2  vols.  12mo,  3.  "  Examen  du 
Materialisme,  ou  refutation  du  systeme  de  la  Nature,"  Pa- 
ris, 1771,  2  vols.  12mo.  4.  "  Trait6  historique  et  dogma- 
tique  de  la  vraie  Religion,  &c."  Pari«,  1780,  12  vols.  12mo/ 
This  is,  in  some  respect,  a  collection  of  the  sentiments  of 
the  ablest  writers  against  infidelity.  5.  •*  Discours  sur  le 
Mariage  des  Protestants,"  i7»7,  dvo.  6,  '^Observations 
sur  le  Divorce,"  ibid.  1790,  8vo,     He  also  compiled  a  the- 


B  £  R  G  t  £  A.  4« 

eloptA  dictioAiry,  which  mtkes  a  part  of  the  ^  Encyclo- 
pedia metbodique/^  9  vols.  4to.  The  abb^  Barrtiel  says» 
tjiat  when  this  work  was  first  undertaken,  some  deference 
was  still  paid  to  religion,  and  Bergier  thought  it  incumbent 
On  him  to  yield  to  the  pressing  solicitations  of  his  friends, 
lest  the  part  treating  of  religion  should  fall  into  the  hands 
6f  its  enemies,  but  in  this  they  were  deceived.  Bergier, 
indeed,  performed  his  task  as  might  have  been  e2q>ected ; 
but  in  other  parts  of  the  work  the  compilers  exceeded  their 
predecessors  in  licentious  sentiments,  and  at  the  same  time 
availed  themselves  of  the  name  of  Bergier  as  a  cloak.  M. 
Barbier  attributes  to  our  author  the  sketch  of  Metaphysics 
inserted  in  the  •*  Cours  d'etude  de  Pusage  de  PEcoIe  mili- 
taire.*'  In  all  his  works  there  is  a  logical  arrangement  and 
precision,  and  the  only  objection  the  French  critics  have  is 
to  his  style,  which  is  sometimes  rather  diffuse.  He  died  at 
Paris,  April  9,  1790.  He  was  a  member  of  the  academy  of 
Besan^on,  and  an  associate  of  that  of  inscriptions  and  belles^ 
lettres. » 

BERGIUS  (John  Henry  Louis),  a  German  writer,  wa« 
bom  at  Laaspa  in  1718,  and  died  in  1781.  He  published, 
f.  ^  Cameralisten  Bibliothek,"  a  complete  catalogue  of  all 
books,  pamphlet!^,  &c.  on  the  subjects  of  political  economy^ 
police,  finances,  &c.  Nuremberg,  1765,  8vo.     2.  "  A  Ma- 

fazine  of  Police  and  Administration,  in  alphabetical  order,*^ 
rancfort,  1767,  1773,  8  vols.  4to.  3.  "  New  Magazine  of 
Police,  &c.**  Leipsic,  177  J — 80,  6  vols.  4to.  4.  •*  A  col- 
lection of  the  principal  German  laws,  relative  to  police  and 
administration,^  Francfort,  4  vols.  1780 — 81.  This  last 
was  continued  by  professor  Beckmann  of  Gottingen.  • 

BERGIUS  (PfcTEli  Jonas),  a  physician  and  professor  of 
natural  history  at  Stockholm,  and  a  member  of  the  aca- 
demy of  sciences  of  that  city,  died  in  1 79 1 .  He  wrote  many 
works  of  considerable  reputation.  Having  received  from 
Crtkbb,  the  director  of  the  Swedish  India  company,  an  her- 
bal of  plants  collected  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  be  drew 
lip  a  description  of  them,  under  the  title  of  "  Descriptio- 
nes  plantar  am  e^  Capite  Bon*  Spei,*'  Stockholm,  ,1767, 
Ivo,  but  generally  quoted  by  the  shorter  title  of  "  Flora 
Capensis.'*  Bergius  discovered  several  plants  in  that  co- 
tofiy»  which  had  escaped  the  knowledge  of  preceding  bota« 

^  Bio^.  UniTerselle. — ^B»rrael'f  Memoiri  of  JaGobiiuim»  t«1.  J.  p*  &l* 

*  fitog.Uiiiverselle.  y 


V 


48  B  E  R  G  I  U  & 

nists,  and  established  several  genera,  one  of  which  he  de-. 
dicated  to  Grubb,  but  this  title  was  not  generally  adopted. 
He  also  published  various  memoirs  on  plants  in  the  trans- 
actions of  the  societies  of  which  he  was  a  member,  and^ 
without  ever  travelling  out  of  Sweden,  found  means  to  ac- 
quire a  very  accurate  knowledge  of  the  most  rare  erotics, 
and  in  compliment  to  his  skill  Linnaeus  consecrated  to  him 
a  new  g^enus  by  the  name  of  Bergia.  He  wrote  a  vegetable 
**  Materia  medica,"  under  the  title  of  "  Materia  medica  e 
regno  vegetabili,  sistens  simplicia  officinalia  pariter  atque 
culinaria,"  Stockholm,  1778,  8vo;  17S2,  2  vols.  8vo ;  and 
in  the  Swedish,  a  treatise  on  fruit  trees,  1780,  and  a  histo- 
rical work  on  the  city  of  Stockholm  in  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  century.  ^ 

BERGIUS  (Bengts  or  Benedict),  brother  of  the  pre^ 
ceding,  a  commissary  of  the  bank  of  Stockholm,  and  a 
member  of  the  academy,  was  born  in  1725,  and  died,  in 
1784.  Being  equally  attached  to  the  study  of  naturaf  his- 
tory, the  brothers  kept  between  them  a  very  large  garden, 
in  which  they  cultivated  rare  plants,  and  which  they  be- 
queathed to  the  academy  of  Stockholm,  with  funds  for  a 
professorship  of  agriculture  and  gardening.  The  present 
professor  is  the  celebrated  Olaus  Swartz.  *  Benedict  Ber- 
gius  wrote  various  papers  inserted  among  those  of  the^  aca- 
demy, on  the  colour  and  change  of  colour  of  animals,  on 
certain  plants,  the  history  of  fishes,  &c.  and  after  his  death 
appeared  an  ingenious  treatise  of  hisi  in  Swedish,  on 
^*  Nicety  in  diet  among  all  people,"  which  was  translated 
into  German,  and  published  by  Reinold  Forster  and  Spren- 
gel  at  Halle,  1792.* 

BERGLER  (Stephen),  was  born  at  Hermanstadt,  the 
capital  of  Transj'lvania,  about  1680,  and  leaving  his  coun-. 
try  in  pursuit  of  employment,  engaged  with  Fritsch,  the 
opulent  and  spirited  bookseller  of  Leipsic,  as  corrector  of 
the  press,  but  his  turbulent  and  unsocial  character  having^, 
occasioned  a  dispute  between  him  and  Fritsch,  he  went  to 
Amsterdam,  where  his  intimate  knowledge  of  Greek  recom- 
mended him  to  the  superintendance  of  Wetstein's  edition 
of  Homer,  1702,  2  vols.  12mo,  and  the  magnificent  edition 
of  the  Onomasticon  of  Pollux,  2  vols.fol.  1706.  Bergler 
afterwards  went  to  Hamburgh,  where  he  assisted  Fabricius 
in  his  Bibl.  Graeca,  and  his  editiou  of  Sextus  Empiricus^ 

1  Bioj.UmTettclU.  ^  IbkL 


B  E  R  G  L  E  R.  4S 

Leipsic,  1718,  folio.  Returning  then,  to  Leipsic>  heirans^ 
eribed  ah  ancient  scholiast  on  Homer,  published  a  neif  edi- 
tion, of  Aiciphron,  with  excellent  notes^  171^,  Svo,  and 
made  some  progress  in  an  edition  of  Herodotus,  in  a  new 
translation  of  Herodian,  more  literal  thaathat^oftPolitJaii^ 
and  in  an  edition  of  Aristophanes,  vrhiohwai  published  by 
the  younger  Burmann  in  1760,  2  vols^  4to.  Amidst  all 
these  employments,  he  contributed  several  excelleut  papers 
to  the  Leipsic  **  Acta  Eruditorum.''  It  is  to  htm  likewise 
that  we  owe  the  Latin  translation  of  the  four  books  of  Oe* 
nesius  on  the  Byzantine  history,  which  is  inserted  in  vol. 
XXIIL  of  that  collection,  published  at  Venice  in  1733,  but 
is  not  in  the  fine  Louvre  edition.  For  Fritsch,  to  whom  he 
seems  to  have  been  reconciled,  he  translated  a  Greek  work 
of  Alexander  Maurocordato,  hospbdar  of  Walachia,  which 
was  published,  with  the  original  text,  >  under  the  title  ^^  Li- 
ber de  officiis,"  Leipsic,  1722,  4to,  and  London,  1724, 
12mo«  For  this  he  was  so  liberally  revirarded  by  John  Ni« 
cplasy  prince  of  Walachia',  and  son  to  the  author,  that  he 
determined  to  quit  Leipsic^  and  attach  himself  to  bis  .patron. 
He  went  accordingly  to  Walachia,  wbeVe  the  prince  had  a 
capital  library  .of  manuscripts,  collected  at.  a  yast  expence. 
Bergler  found  there  the  introduction  and  first  three  chap- 
ters of  Eusebius's  "  Evangelical  Demonstration,"  hitherto 
madiscovered,  and  sent  a  copy  of  them  to  Fabricius,  by 
.whom  they  were  printed  in  his  ^^  Delectus  argumentorum," 
Hamburgh,  1725,  4to«  On  the  destth  of  the  prince,  how- 
ever, Bergler  being  without  support,  went  to  Constantly 
nople,  where  he  died  in  1746,  after  having,  it  is  said,  em- 
braced Mahometanism.  He  was  a  most  accomplished  scho- 
lar in  Greek  and  Latin,  and  an  accurate  editor ;  but  his 
unsteady  turn  and  unsocial  disposition  procured  him  many 
^  enemies,  and  even  among  his  friends  he  was  rather  tole- 
rated than  admired. ' 

BERGMAN  (Sir  Torbern),  a  celebrated  chemist  and 
natural  philosopher,  was  born  March  20,  1735,  at  Catha- 
rineberg  in  Westgothland.  His  father  was  receiver-gene- 
ral of  the  finances,  and  had  destined  him  to  the  same  em- 
ployment; but  nature  had  designed  him  for  the  sciences, 
to  which  he  had  an  irresistible  inclination  from  his  earliest 
years.  His  first  studies  we're  confined  to  mathematics  and 
physics,  and  all  efforts  that  were  made  to  divert  him.  from 

1  •  .'         •  ' 

1  Biog.  Uaiverstlie.-- Saxii  ODOOMStitoo, 

YouV.  ■       E  ■ 


S#  B  £  H  ($  S£  A^i^M. 


•eifloee  h^i4fig  jlfOTttd  indfccttial^  he  #a»  $«tf  to  jUpaat 
with  permission  to  follovr  the  bent  oif  bis  iiii!tiii8UCM!iw  Lin-^ 
fieua  at  that  time  filled  the  wkole  kiiigdfom.  with  his  fame. 
imAigaied  by  his  example,  the  Swedirii  youdt  AoduBDd 
around  bim;  and  acoomplisfaed  disci|9lesieaYiiig  h'rasdftool^ 
earried  the  naatie  aod  die  system:  of  tbeir  niasier  to  the  most 
diBtiBMiit  parts  of  the  globev  Bergmao^  s^ttudi  wicb  the 
ipleadciiir  of  thia  renowii^  attached  bioiseif  to  the  man  whose 
aserit  had  ptocnred  it,  and  by  wfaooi  he  was  very  soon  dis^ 
tmguistead.  He  applied  buwelf  at  fir st  to  the  stooiy  of  m^ 
aeets,  and  made  seveml  ingenious  leseaicbes  into  tbeiv 
history;,  aau^og  otbetfs  iate  that  of  the  genua  of  Untkred^^ 
ab  oAie»  and  9^  enielly  preyed  oo*  b^*  the  larfos  el  the  ieb« 
aemaie&a,  that  neatle  in  their,  boocfdn  and  drrour  tbem*  He 
d»oo¥eved  that,  the  leecfa<  is  evipaaooa^  aoad  idiat  tkie  eoecaa 
a^uatieua  ts>  the  egg^  oi  this  anoud,  fkodi  wheaoe  issue  ten 
or  tvfeUe  youngv  Lianasusiy  wlia  h«d»  att  first  deuiied  tbis 
§tK(str  we^  struck  \d«k  astotinriuBaeot  aokwit  he  saair  it  pncwredl 
5^  ViULeflobetapui!'^'  were  the  words  be  pronouneed^  aod* 
aibieb  be-  vnaote  at  the  foes  oi  the  naenioit?  vAimt  be  gsnre  it 
bih  saactiom  Mr.  Bei<gaMBi  men  diitongaisfaed-  hinnelf  as 
aa  astroodmerf  naturaHst,  and  geootetrieian;  bat  these*  we 
net  the  tittestby  which  heaeqaived  bis  fdtsm.  The  cbair  ol 
cbeaiifltry  and  mineralogy^  which  bad  been*  fiUed  by  dM 
eel^btialied)  WaiiertiiS)  beoomiog  vacant  by  hia  Mugnation^ 
Mr.  Bergmaa  was^aoion^  the  niaabev  of  tbtr  eompetitors; 
atid  witimft  hainng*  before  thte  period  disco vened  any  pavti* 
eulttp  atoeatioa  to  eheouetry^  he  pubUsfaed  a  mesnotr  00  the 
pveparal»o»  of  akim,.  thai  astonifihed  bii*  friends  m  welt  at 
)m.  adversariistf ;  bot  it  waS'  wamrfy  ansackecb  iw  the  pem^'- 
cal  publica^MHiSy  and  Walteriua  himself  cidiausised  it  witfaoat 
jiaaerveL  The  dispute,  ine  ntaysapyuBey  wair.  deemed^  of 
faigli  ioipoiPtaiioe^  sioee  the  prince  Gaatanrus,  a£i9etfvraiid^ 
king  of  Sweden,  and  then  chancellor  oi  t^  attivecsity^ 
took  4So>^zance  ol  the  afi&ir,  and  after  having  consulted 
fm^  personify  the  m^t  able  to  gikre  bim  ad^iee,  and:  whose 
testimony  went  iwfaiwiv  of  Bergman,  he  addVesBed  a  me« 
rmffiAs  wfitum*  with  his  owti^  hand^  m  answer  to  M  the  oh^ 
jection»  uf^ged'  against  the:  candilQiailev  to^  the^  consistory  of 
the  ttimiemtty  aadi  to  the  senate,  wto  elected  tain»agceeably 
to  his  btgbim»'»  i^ifahea. 

B)ei^giiiae>bflitoow't0'saefafy'tWfe  were  coaamred 

of  bim ;  to  justify  the  opinion  of  those  who  recommeaded 
him ;  to  fill  the  pfisEcr  of  W^erius-^   and  to  put  eitvy  to 


rfkenee ;  not  was  he  iin^ttceessful  in  any  of  tb^sc^  aftewfipW, 
tie  did  not  follow  the  common  track  in  the$  study  ^  thi^ 
mistry.     As  he  had  received  the  lessons  of  no  niaster^  faft 
Wtfs  tainted  with  th^  j^rejudices  of  no  sebbol.     Acenstoftied 
to  fnrecision,  and  having  nO  titne  to  lose^  he  af^plied  bifni^^ 
to  experiments  without  pacing  any  attention  to  iheoHteS  ^ 
lie  repeated  those  often  which  he  con^ide^ed  aS  the  ihoilt 
faiportant  and  instructive,  and  reduced  dieih  to  method^  ttk 
improvement  till  then  unknown.     He  fir^  intrddueed  intii 
chemistry  the  process  by  analysis^  whiefa  oiight  to  be  a^ 
plied  to  every  science ;  for  there  should  be  but  one  ti^ 
d>od  of  teaching  and'  learning,  a^  there  is  but  One  of  j^<l^^ 
well.     These  views  have  been  laid  dt>#n  by  Mr.  BlergdiS 
in  an  eKcelletit  discourse,  which  contains,  if  we^mayusetii^ 
llhrase,  his  ^fesston  of  faith  in  what  relates  to  the  Science 
It  is  here  tkat  he  displays  himself  without  d^sgtiisfe  to  hh 
render,  and  here  it  is  of  iobpoHance  to  study  him  ^ith  a^ 
ientiorn.     The  productions  of  voleahoes  bad  itevef  be^ 
analysed  when  Messrs.  Perber  and  Troil  brought  d  ric& 
collection  of  them  into   SWed^,    at  the  tight  of  #hie& 
Mr.  Be^ginan  conceived  the  design  of  investigating  tli^ 
nature.     He  examined  first  6f  ail  the  matters  least  idtefreA 
6y  the  fire,  and  the  forn»  of  which  were  still  id  be  dti^ 
te^ned ;  he  foilowed  them  in  their  changes  progrei^vely ; 
he  determined,  he  imitated  their  more  c(Mnplie«^efd  ap^ 
pearances ;  he  knew  the  effects  v^hich  wbuld  tesult  from 
the  mi)cture  and  decomposition  of  the  saiine  substances 
whicfr  aire  found  abundantly  in  these  productiohs.     He  disv 
covered  such  as  were  fernied  in*  the  btimid  way  ;  ifnd  tbM 
in  his  tabbratory  he  observed  t6e  ptocesS  of  nature ;  tM% 
combat  of  flames  and  explosions ;  that  ehaios  in'  which  tStt^ 
dements  seem  to  dash  and  to  cenfound  on^  atiotfaefr,  xxn^  : 
,y^led  themselves  to  his  eyes.    He  ittvt  the  fire  df  yolca<>i 
lioeS  kindled  in  the  midst  of  pyritical  ccfmbinsttibhs,  ahd 
#ei^^t  decomposed  by  clays ;  he  saw  ihrtfd  ahf  disen«^ 
gaged  from  calcined  calcareous  stones,    Spreading  upbil 
ffie  surfaee  of  tbe  earth,  and  filling  caverns  in  which  Attend 
Mtd  ^mal  life  ai^e  equally  extinguished ;  he  sa#  the  snfi 
j^ureous  acid  thrown  out  in  waves,  converi  itself  intb  th6 
vitrioUe  by  mere  contact  vSth'  the   afir;    «lnd  distilling 
flinongh  the  rocksj  from  the  aliJim  veiiis  6f  the  solfetara. 
He  saw  the  bitumens  asr  tliey  melted  ;  thi  inflamm  Ale  and 
sulphureous  airs  exhaling  ;  and  the  waters  become  mineral 
and  impregnated  witb  the  fire  ftudf  vapours  of  &ose  sttt«* 

B  2 


5«  BERGMAN. 

peaiious  furnacesy^  preparing  for  the  beiirgs  that  move  asfd 
jdispute  on  the  crust  of  the  abyss^  a  remedy  for  pain  and 
s  balsam  for  disease. 

The  Gontinilal  application  bestowed  by  Mr.  Bergman  on 
)iis  stu(lies  having  affected  his  health,  he  was  advised  to 
interrupt  them  if  he  wished  to  prolong  his  life :  but  he 
found  happineas  only  in  study,  and  would  not  forfeit  his 
title  to  reputation  by  a  few  years^  more  of  inactivity  and 
jUtnguor.     By  this  enthusiasm,  however,  he  exhausted  his 
^it^ength,  and  died  July  $,  1784.     The  university  of  Upsal 
paid  the  mo$t  distinguished  honours  to  his  memory ;  and 
4be  academy  of  Stockholm  consecrated  to  him  a  medal  to 
perpetuate  the  regret  of  all  the  learned  in  Europe  for  his 
Joss.     His  principal  publications  were>:    1.  ^^  A  physical 
description  of  the  Earth,"   1770 — 74,  2  vols,  8vo,  a  much 
Admired  work,  and  translated  into  the  Danish,  Qerman, 
jandi  Italian  language^.     2.  Various  **  Eloges"  of  the  mem- 
bers af  the  .academy  of  Stockholm.      3.   An  edition  of 
Scheffer's  "  Physics."     4.  -Many  papers  in  the  Transac- 
tions of  the  Academies  of  Stockholm,  Berlin,  Montpellier, 
and  the  Royal  Society,  London.    These  smaller  pieces  form 
6  volsi  8»vo,  under  the  title  '^  Opuscula  physica  et  che- 
inica,"  1779 — ^90,  a  part  of  which  was  translated  under  the 
title  of  "Physical  and  Chemical  essays,"  and  published 
jby  Dn  Edmund .Cullen,  London,  1786,  2  vols** 

BEEGOMASCO.  Se^  CASTELLO. 
[  BERIGARD  or  BEAUREGARD  (Claude  Guiller- 
MET,  SiGNOR  de),  was  born  at  Moulins  in  1578,  and  taught 
philosophy  with  reputation  at  Pisa  and  at  Padua,  where 
|ie  died  of  an  iimbilical  hernia,  in  1663.  We  have  by 
him,  1.  **  Circulus  Pisanus,"  printed  in  1641,  at  Florence, 
^to.  This  book. treats  of  the  ancient  philosophy,  and  that  of 
Aristotle*  .  2.  ^^  Dubitationes  in  dialogum  Galilaei  pro  terras 
immobilitate,''  1632,  4to,  under  the  iictitious  name  of 
Oalilseus  Lynceus ;  a  work  which  brought  upon  him  the 
charge  of  Pyrrhonism  and  materiali3m,  not  without  foun- 
dation. He  has  been  reproached  with  acknowledging  no 
other  moving  principle  of  the  world  than  primitive  matter. 
Whatever  he  professed,  his  works  are  now  in  little  repute^ 
yet  Chaufepie  has  bestowed  a  copious  article  on  him.'  . 
BERING  (Vitus),  a  Latin  poet,  born  in  Denmark  in 
.    1617)  whose  taste  foe  letters  does  not  appear  to  have  im« 

' '  )  Eloges  des  Academiciens,  Berlin;  I2iiio,  toI.  tV.  36. — Biog.  Unhrerselie. 
■  .*  Chaisfepie«-<-*Moreri»— Gen  J)ict->-Saxii  OnodiasticoB. 


B  E  R  I  N  G.  5» 

peded  his  fortune,  was  a  member  of  the  royal  cDunnl  of"  ' 
finances,  and  historiographer  to  his  majesty.  It  Was  to  ., 
justify  his  promotion  to  this  last  office,  that  be  published  * 
"  Floras  Danicas,  sive  Danicarum  rernm  a  prindordio  regni  • 
ad  tempora  usque  Christiani  1.  Oldenburgici  Breviariuof.'* 
This  work  was  printed  in  foi.  1698,  at  Odensee,  the  ca- 
pital of  Funen,  at  the  private  press  of  Thomas  Kingorius,' 
bishop  of  that  island,  who  spared  no  eicpence  to  make  anf 
elegant  book.  The  bookseller,  however,  to  whovd'  the* 
sale  was  consigned,  eager  to  get  rid  of  the  uhsold  copies^ 
printed  a  new  title  with  the  date  of  1700,  and*  when  that 
did  not  quite  answer  his  expectations,  he  printed  another 
with  the  date  of  1709,  and  notwithstanding  this  obvioui^ 
trick,  there  are  connoisseurs  who  think  the  pretended' ledi-* 
tion  of  1709  preferable  to  that  of  1698.  In  1716,  how-' 
ever,  a  second  edition  was  published  in  8vo,  at  Timaro,'* 
under  the  direction  of  the  Jesuits  of  that  piace^  Bering*i^ 
poetry,  printed  separately,  was  collected  m  the  2d  vol.  of 
^^  Deliciae  quorundam  Danorum,*'  Leyden,  1693,  12mo. 
The  smaller  pieces,  lyrics,  sonnets,  &c.  arle  thebcsr;  he 
bad  not  genius  for  the  more  serious  efforts  of  the  muse. 
He  died  in  1675.*  

BERKELEY  (George),  an  eminent  and  learned  |)re« 
late,  was  born  in  Ireland,  at  Kilcrin,  near  Thomastown, 
the  12th  of  March  1684.  He  was  the  son  of  William 
Berkeley  of  Thomastown,  in  the  county  of  Kilkenny ; 
whose  father,  the  family  having  suffered  for  their  loyalty 
to  Charles  I.  went  over  to  Ireland  after  the  restoration,  and 
there  obtained  the  coUectorship  of  Belfast.  George  had 
the  first  part  of  his  education  at  Kilkenny  school,  under 
Dr.  Hinton;  was  admitted  pensioner  of  Trinity  college^ 
Dublin,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  under  Dr.  Hall ;  and  chosen 
fellow  of  that  college  June  the  9th,  1707,  after  a  very 
strict  examination,  which  he  went  through  with  great 
credit. 

The  first  public  proof  be  gave  of  his  literary  abilities 
was  his  ^'  Arithmetica  absque  Algebra  aut  Euclide  demon- 
strata;"  which,  from  the  preface,  he  appears  to  have 
written  before  he  was  twenty  years  old,  though  he  did  not 
publish  it  till  1707.  It  is  dedicated  to  Mr.  Palliser,  son 
to  the  archbishop  of  Cashel ;  and  is  followed  by  a  ni(athe- 
matical  miscellany,  containing  observations  and  theorems 

I  9.iof  .  Uniy.— 3^iUet  Jusemeog  d^s  8ayan8.-tMprQri.«— Saxii  Ononust*'      > 


ff  B  E  |l  K  E  L  £  T. 

^8€xi|^04  ^f  bf?  BHPH  Mr-  Samuel  Molineu?,  wiv)fe  fa- 
tLef  \fa^  the  frieud  and  porrespondeot  of  Locke.  Thi« 
|iftle  pl^cie  i^  SQ  far  curious^  as  it  shews  bis  early  and  strong 
|iassip{i  fqr  t^e  ma^bfsm^tic^^  bis  admiration  of  those  great 
Ba,Knes  in  pbil^sopby)  Loc^e  and  Newton,  some  of  whos^^ 
|}p^itio|is  he  afterwards  vei^tured  to  call  in  question^  an4 
t^e  poipmencemeqt  of  his  application  to  those  more  sul;>tile 
^tapbysicai  ftudies^^  tq  which  his  genius  was  peculiarly 

jn  1709,  <*fn)e  forth  the  "  Theory  of  Vision,"  which, 
pf  ^U  hfs  works|  aeems  to  do  the  greatest  honour  to  his 
lagacityi;  beipg,  as  Dr.  Reic[  observes,  the  first  attempt 
^^  ever  wfis  made  to  distinguish  the  immediate  and  natu- 
^l  pbjects  of,  sight,  froi^  ^e  conclusions  we  have  beei| 
aqc^stomed  from  infancy  to  drai^  from  them.  The  boiin- 
Sfti^  i^  here  tr^cefi  out  between  the  idea^  of  sight  and 
|Oi{ich ;  and  it  is  sh^wp,  that,  though  habit  has  so  connected 
tt^es^e  two  classef  of  ideas  in  our  minds,  that  they  are  not 
without  ^  ^(rong  effort  to  be  separated  from  each  other, 
^et  ongiiij^Uy  they  b^ve  no  ^uch  connection ;  insomuch, 
qi^at  V  peifon  born  bliad,  aud  sviddealy  made  to  see,  woul^ 
at  first  be  utterly  unable  to  tell  how  any  object  that  affected 
Ijia  9ight  would  affect  his  touch;  and  particularly  would 
not  from  sight  receive  any  idea  of  distance,  outness,  of 
^:^terf)^l  space,  but  would  imagine  all  objects  to  be  in  hi» 
eye,  or  rather  in  his  nain^d.  This  was  surprisingly  co^t 
^med  in  thecfise  pf  a  young  man  born  blind,  and  couched 
^f  fpi^^eea  years  pf  age  by  Mr.  Cheselden,  in  1728.  '^  4 
Dfindication  of  the  Theory  of  Vision''  was  published  by  him 

ipl7?3?r 

Ifl  1710  ^ppeaped  "  The  Principles  of  human  knqw-r 

Wge;^'  and^  i^  171 3,  ^^  pialoguf|s  between  Uylas  an4. 
Fl^ubi^ou^ :''  but  to  them  the  same  praise  has  not  beeo 
ffiveib  ^^4  ^  ^^  ^^y  ^^^^  ^^  tendency  is  a  disputed 
point.    The  object  of  both  pieces  is  to  prove  that  the  com- 

Sonly  received  notion  of  the  eiristeuce  of  matter  is  false ; 
^  at  sensible  materi,al,  obj^ects,  as  they  are  called,  are  no4^ 
Sxternal  to  the  mind^  bvit  exist  in  it,  ai^d  are  nothing  more 
iian  impressions  made  upon  it  by  the  impoediate  ^ct  of 
^od,  a^ccording  tp  certain  rules  tprnied  laws  of  nature,^ 
firoip  whicb^  in  the  ordinary  course  of  bis.  governments^  be 
]f,ever  devi^t^  i  and  tha^  the  steady  adherence  of  the  Su- 
preme Spirit  to  these  rules  is  what  constitutes  the  reality 
of  tiUagf  to  hia  creatures*    These  works  are  declared  to 


BERKELEY.  ^ 

bave  been  written  in  opposition  to  sceptics  and  tttbeisl^  $ 
and  the  author's  inquiry  is  into  the  chief  cause  of  error 
aud  diiEcuIty  in  tlie  sciences,  with  the  grounds  of  seep* 
Ucism,  atheism,  and  irreligion  ;  which  cause  and  grounds 
are  found  to  be  the  doctrines  of  the  existence  of  matter. 
*He  seems  persuaded  that  men  never  could  have  be^n  de* 
luded  into  a  false  opinion  of  the  existence  of  matter,  if 
they  had  not  fancied  themselves  invested  with  a  power  of 
abstracfing  substance,  from  the  qualities  under  which  it  is 
perceived ;  and  hence,  as  the  general  foundation  of  his 
argument,  he  is  led  to  combat  and  explode  a  doctrifie 
maintained  by  Locke  and  others,  pf  there  being  a  power 
in  the  mind  of  abstracting  general  ideas.  Mr.  Hume  ssyi, 
that  these  works  ^^  form  the  best  lessons  of  scepticism, 
which  are  to  be  found  either  among  the  ancient  or  modem 
philosophers,  Bayle  not  excepted."  Dr^  Beattie  also  con« 
siders  them  as  having  a  sceptical  tendency.  He  adds,  tbaA 
if  Berkeley's  argument  be  conclusive,  it  proves  that  to  be 
false  which  every  man  must  necessarily  believe,  every  mo* 
meut  o£  his  life,  to  be  true,  and  that  to  be  true  which  no 
man  since  the  foundation  of  the  world  was  ever  capable  of 
believing  for  a  single  moment.  Berkeley's  doctrine  attacks 
the  most  incontestable  dictates  of  common  sense,  and  pre-* 
tends  to  demonstrate  that  the  clearest  principles  of  humaa 
conviction,  and  those  which  have  determined  the  judgotent 
of  men  in  all  ages,  and  by  which  the  judgment  of  all  rea* 
sonable  ihen  must  be  determined,  are  certainly  fallacioui* 
]lt  may  just  be  observed,  that  Berkeley  had  not  reached 
his  27th  year  when  he  published  this  singular  system.  The . 
author  of  bis  life  in  the  Biog.  Brit,  asserts  that  *^  the  airy 
visions  of  romances,  to  the  reading  of  which  he  was  much 
addicted,  disgust  at  the  books  of  metaphysics  then  received 
in  the  university,  and  that  inquisitive  attention  to  the 
operations  of  the  mind  which  about  this  time  was  excited 
by  the  writings  of  Locke  and  Malebranche,  probably  gave 
birth  to  his  disbelief  of  the  existence  of  matter."  What-* 
ever  influence  the  other  causes  here  assigned 'might  have 
had,  we  have  the  authority  of  his  relict,  Mrs.  Berkeley, 
that  he  had  a  very  great  dislike  to  romances,  and  indeed 
it  would  be  difl&cuU  to  discover  in  any  of  these  volumea 
of  absurd  fiction  the  grounds  of  such  a  work  as  Berkeley's* 
In  1712  he  published  three  sermons  in  favour  of  passive 
obedience  and  non-resistance,  which  underwent  at  least 
three  ediiiGfns,  and  afterwards  had  nearly  done  him  some 


*  A 


56  BERKELEY. 

injury  in  his  fortune.  They  caused  him  to  be  represented 
as  a^ Jacobite,  and  stood  in  his  way  with  the  house  of  Ha- 
nover, till  Mr.  Mblineux,  above-mentioned,  took  off  the 
impression,  and  first  made  him  known  to  queen  Caroline, 
whose  secretary,  when  princess,  Mr.  Molineux  had  been. 
Acuteness  of  parts  and  beauty  of  imagination  were  so  con* 
^picuous  in  his  writings,  that  his  reputation  was  now  es« 
tablished,  and  his  company  courted  even  where  his  opinions 
did  not  find  admission.  Men  of  opposite  parties  concurred 
in  recommending  him ;  sir  Richard  Steele,  for  instance, 
and  Dr.  Swift.  For  the  former  he  wrote  several  papers  in 
the  Guardian,  and  at  his  house  became  acquainted  with 
Pope,  with  whom  he  afterwards  lived  in  friendship.  It  is 
said  he  had  a  guinea  and  a  dinner  with  Steele  for  every 
paper  he  wrote  in  the  Guardian.  Swift  recommended  him 
to  the  celebrated  earl  of  Peterborough,  who  being  appointed 
anibassador  to  the  king  of  Sicily  arid  the  Italian  states, 
took  Berkeley  with  him  as  chaplain  and  secretary  in  No- 
vember 1713.  He  returned  to  Eno^land  with  this  noble- 
roan  in  August  1714,  and  towards  the  close  of  the  year 
had  a  fever,  which  gave  occasion  to  Dr.  Arbuthnot  to  in- 
dulge a  little  pleasantry  on  Berkeley's  system.  "  Poor 
philosopher  Berkeley,*'  says  he  to  his  friend  Swift,  "  has 
nov^  the  idea  of  health,  which  was  very  hard  to  produce  in 
him;  for  he  had  an  idea  of  a  strange  fever  on  him  so  strong, 
that  it  was  very  hard  to  destroy  k  by  introducing  a  con* 
trarj'  one."  ^ 

His  hopes  of  preferment  expiring  with  the  fall  cJ  queen 
Anne's  ministry,  he  some  time  after  embraced  an  offer 
made  him  by  Dr.  St.  George  Ashe,  bishop  of  Clogher,  of 
accompanying  his  son  in  a  tour  through  Europe.  When  he 
arrived  at  Paris,  having  more  leisure  than  when  he  first 
passed  through  that  city,  Mr.  Berkeley  took  care  to  pay 
his  respects  to  his  rival  in  metaphysical  sagacity,  the  illus- 
trious Pere  Malebranche.  He  found  this  ingenious  father 
in  his  cell,  cooking  in  a  small  pipkin  a  medicine  for  a 
disorder  with  which  he  was  then  troubled,  an  inflammation 
on  the  lungs.  The  conversation  naturally  turned  on  our 
author's  system,  of  which  the  other  had  received  some 
knowledge  from  a  translf^ion  just  published.  But  the 
issue  of  this  debate  proved  tragical  to  poor  Malebranche, 
In  the  heat  of  Jisputation  he  raised  his  voice  so  high,  and 
gave  way  so  freely  to  the  natural  impetuosity  of  a  man  of 
parts  and  a  Frenchman,   that  he  brought  on  himself  a 


B  E  R  K  E  L  E  Y.  Si 

Tioleht  JDCrease  ef  bis.  disorder,  which  carried  him  «flF  a 
few  days  after.  In  this  excursion  Mr.  Berkeley  employed 
tout  years;  and,  besides  those  places  which  fall  within 
the  grand  tour,  visited  some  that  are  less  frequented*  He 
travelled  over  Apulia  (from  which  he  wrote  an  account  of 
the  tarantula  to  Dr.  Freind),  Calabria,  and  the  -whole 
island  of  Sicily.  This  last  country  engaged  his  attentioti 
so  strongly,  that  he  had  with  great  industry  collected  very 
considerable  materials  for  a  natural  history  of  it,  but  un^ 
fortunately  lost  them  in  the  passage  to  Naples.  What  in- 
jury the  literary  world  has  sustained  by  this  mischance^ 
may  be  collected  from  the  specimen  of  his  talents  for  ob- 
servation and  description,  in  a  ietter  to  Mr.  Pope  concern- 
ing the  island  of  Inarime  (now  Ischia)  dated  October  22, 
1717  ;  and  in  another  from  the  same  city  to  Dr.  Arhuthnot^ 
giving  an  account  of  an  eruption  of  Vesuvius.  On  hi« 
•way  homeward,  he  drew  tip  at  Lyons  a  cuiious  tract  "  De 
Motu,*'  which  was  inserted  in  the  memoirs  of  the  roysl 
academy  of  sciences  at  Paris,  who  had  proposed  the  sub- 
ject. He  arrived  at  London  in  1721  ;  and,  being  muck 
affected  with  the  miseries  of  the  nation,  occasioned  by  the 
South  Sea  scheme  in  1720,  published  the  same  year  ^^  An 
essay  towards  preventing  the  ruin  of  Great  Britain ;"  re- 
printed in  his  miscellaneous  tracts. 

His  way  was  open  now  into  the  very  first  company.  Mr, 
Pope  introduced  him  to  lord  Burlington,  and  lord  Bur- 
lington recommended  him  to  the  duke  of  Grafton ;  who, 
being  lord-lieutenant  of  Ireland,  took  him  over  as  one  of 
hii^  chaplains  in  1721,  and  November  this  year  he  is  said 
to  have  accumulated  the  degrees  of  bachelor  and  doctor  ia 
divinity;  but  a  writer  in  the  Gent.  Mag.  1776  asserts  that 
be  never  went  to  Ireland  as  chaplain  to  any  lieutenant,  and 
that  he  was  created  D.  D.  by  his  college  in  1717,  when  he 
was  in  Italy.  The  year  following  he  had  ^  very  unex- 
pected increase  of  fortune  from  Mrs.  Vanhomrigh,  the 
celebrated  Vanessa,  to  whom  he  had  been  introduced  by 
Swift  :  this  lady  had  intended  Swift  for  her  heir,  but,  per- 
ceiving herself  to  be  slighted  by  him,  she  left  near  8000/. 
between  her  two  executors,  of  whom  Berkeley  was  one. 
In  his  life  in  the  Biog.  Brit,  it  is  said  that  Swift  had  often 
taken  him  to  dine  at  this  lady's  house,  but  Mrs.  Berkeley, 
his  widow,  asserts  that  he  never  dined  there  but  once,  and 
that  by  chance.  Dr.  Berkeley,  as  executor,  destroyed  ai 
mttch  of  Vftoessa^tS  correspondence  as  be  could  find.    Mr* 


JAzT^bsi,  the  6tb«r  eicecutor,  p«bli«be4  the  ^<  CftdemM  M4t 
Vanessa/'  which,  according  to  Dr.  Delany,  proved  fimtil 
to  Stella.  May  18,  1724,  he  was  proB^oted  to  the  dea^^jr 
of  Derry,  wonh  1 100/.  per  unnunh  and  reaigoed  hia  felt> 
lowsbip.. 

In  172$  he  published,  and  it  has  since  been  re*priate4 
in  his  miscellaneous  tracts,  ^'  A  proposal  for  convertin|^ 
the  savage  Americans  to  Christianity,  by  a  college  to  be 
erected  in  the  Summer  Islands,  otherwise  called  the  Islea 
of  Bermuda  f '  a  scheme  which  had  employed  his  thoieigbt^ 
for  three  or  four  years  past;  and  for  which  he  was  disposed 
to  make  many  personal  sacrifices.     As  what  he  deemed 
necessary  steps  he  offered  to  resign  all  his  preferment,  and 
to  dedicate  the  remainder  of  bis  life  to  instructing  the 
American  youth,  on  a  stipend  of  100/.  yearly;   he  prer 
yailed  with  three  junior  fellows  of  Trinity  college^  Dublin, 
to  give  up  all  their  prospects  at  home,  and  to  exchange 
their  fellowships  for  a  settlement  in  the  Atlantic  ocean  at 
40/.  a  year ;  he  procured  his  plan  to  be  laid  before  George  h 
who  commanded  sir  Robert  Walpole  to  lay  it  before  the  Qom<^ 
mons ;  and  further  granted  him  a  charter  for  erecting  a  col* 
lege  in  Bermuda,  to  consist  of  a  president  and  nine  fellowfi, 
who  ware  obliged  to  maintain  and  educate  Indifin  scholars 
at  1  o/.  a  year  each ;  he  obt^ued  ^  grant  from  the  commooa  of 
^  sum,. to  be  determined  by  the  king ;  and  accordingly 20^0/. 
was  promised  by  the  minister,  for  the  purchase  of  lands, 
9Ad  erecting  the  college*    Trusting  to  these  promising  ap'^ 
pearances,  he  married  the  daughter  of  John  Forster,  esq; 
speaker  of  the  Irish  hou^  of  commons,  tt^  1st  of  August 
1728  ;  and  actually  set  sail  in  September  following  for 
Khode  Island)  which,  lay  nearest  to  Beromda,  taking  with 
him  bis  wife,  a  aingle  lady,  and  two  gentlemen  of  £ort«ne» 
Yet  the  scheme  entirely  failed»  and  Berkeley  waa  oUiged 
to  return,  after  residing  ne^r  two  year>  at  Ne?«vpQrt.  .  The 
reason  given  is,  that  the  ministear  never  heartily  embraced 
the  project,  and  the  money  was  turned  iiito  aivolher  cbaa** 
nel.     During  his  residence  in  America,  when  he  wad  not 
employed  as  an  itinerant  preacher,  whi<^  biisiness  could 
not  be  discharged  in  the  winter,  he  preached  every  Sua^ 
day  at  Newport,  where  was  the  nearest  episcopal  cburci^ 
and  to  that  church  he  g&ve  an  organ.    When  the  season 
and  his  health  permitted,  be  visited  the  continent,  not  only 
in  its  outward  skirts,  but  penetrated  iar  into  its  rece9ses. 
The  same  gsmftow  desira  of  ad^aw^mg.  the  beat  intuce^ 


BERKELEY:  5» 


qf  Hd^loui^  w}iilph  m4ttced  ]bitm  to  gto9%  tb#  ^tlantici  uni*  " 
{orjpaly  sicitvif  ^4  bw  whilst  America  was  th^  j»c^q9  of  bi4 
i{)iaistry.  T^e  ipis^ioiiari^  fropiu  ^he  Eqgli^l^  society,  who 
i:i^ed  mt\m  a,bQut  |i  b^n4red  qiil^  of  Rbo^e  Island^ 
agre^  aciapiig  theqa^eives  tp  bql^  a  &ort  of  ^ynod  at  Pr» 
BerlF^ey^  bPMie  tber^  twice  iq  a  year,  ip  ord^r  tQ  enjpj 
t^^  advfuntf^gfs  of  ifi$  advice  and  ^xborta^tiQiis.  ]four  of 
t^se  m^f^ilgl)  w^rf  accpr^iogly  M^i  Q^e  of  the  priu* 
qpfil  p<^i>to  wbic]^  the  ioatqf  tb^o  pr^^^d  vpqn  bis  felipw-i 
If^bourers,  Tv^s  ti^e  a^bsolote  neoQ^ity  of  cpnciliaMngy  by 
df\  iiuiopei^  ini^Qs^  (be  affe^t^Qn  of  their  b^urcirs,  ai>d  also 
of  (b§ir  4iss^i^l4Dg  peigbbours.  Hi^  omi  example,  iiideed, 
v^y  emioi^Uy  et^ppced  bis  precepts  upop  tbia  bead  ;  for 
it  ^  scarcely  pos^ibbs  tf>  concave  a  ^qoduot  more  uoi- 
fbnqly  kifld;  teqd^r,  b^nei^cent,  and  liberal  tbaa  bis  was. 
£le  seeiped  to  have  only  one  wi$b  in  bis  heart,  which  waa 
to  alleviate  piiseiry,  and  to  diffuse  happinef^.  Finding,  a^ 
lengthy  thf^  the  ^ar  of  offending  the  dissenters  at  home, 
^nd  of  iaclining  the  colonies  tq  assert  independency,  had 
detercnioed  the  minister  to  make  any  use,  rather  than  tb^ 
^t  use,  of  the  money  destined  for,  and  promised  to  St, 
Paul's  college,  the  d^n  of  Derry  took  a  reluctapt  le^ve  of 
a  country,  where  the  napie  /of  Berkeley  wa'is  jlong  and  justly 
levere^  V¥>te  than  that  of  any  European  wMtever,  At  bis 
^ep^^re,  b^  gaiie  a  farm  of  a  hundred  ^r§s,  which ,  lay 
jfound  hi%  bQ^s^»  an4  U'u  bouse  itself,  as  a  benefaction  to 
y^  a^^  Haxvar^  ^olleg^:  and  tbf  value  of  that  land,- 
^aifiu  Qot  insignificant  because  cultivated,  became  after-r 
Vwds  v^ry  .considerable.  He  gave,  of  bis  own  prop^erty, 
to  99e  of  tjiM^s^  f  oUegos,  and  to  sovora^  missionaries,  books 
10  tibQ  aviWUt  of  ^v^  hundred  pounds.  To  the  other  coU 
if^ge  kf^  jnkie  fi  large  donation  of  books  purchased  by 
q^^9  f n4  txuft^  to  tM4  disjpo^l. 

In  (7ig,  Ibi/f  publinhed  *^  The  Minute  Philosopher,"  iu 
%  vols,  trq^  Tbis  mast^iy  \9r0rk  is  written  in  a  series  of 
4pi44og?i^  9^  ^  fiodj^l  of  Plato,  a  philosopher  of  wboia 
^  it^  si|i4  tf}  have,  been  vory  fond  ;  and  in  it  be  pursues  the 
$wo^.iql$er  tijUK^ilgjIl  the  various  characters  of  atheist,  Ilv 
h^ctiiie,  entb^siasi^  iicornor,  critiq,  metaphysician,  fatalist* 
UQid  fceptic 

We  b^v^  already  related  by  what  means,  and  upon  wbal 
^ffilWOD,  pr.  3trkeloy  had  first  the  honour  of  bfing  koowQ 
^  queen  (Caroline.  This  priociess  delighted  mupb  iq  atir 
te&ding  to  philosophical  conversations  between  learned 


6©  B  E  R  K  E  t  E  v. 

and  ingenious  men;  for  which  purpose  she  had,  when' 
princess  of  Wales,  appointed  a  particular  day  in  the  week, 
when  the  most  eminent  for'  literary  abilities  at  that  time  in 
England  were  invited  to  attend  her  royal* highness  in  the 
evening:  a  practice  which  she  continued  after  her  acces-; 
sion  to  the  throne.     Of  this  company  were  doctors  Clarke^^ 
Hoadly,  Berkeley,   and  Sherlock.    'Clarke  and  Berkeliey^ 
were  generally  considered  as  principals  in  the  debates  that* 
arose  upon  thoise  occasions ;  and  Hoadly  adhered  to  the', 
former,  as  Sherlock  did  to" the  latter.    Hoadly  was  no  friend' 
to  our  author :  he  affected  to  consider  his  philosophy  and 
his  Bermuda  project  as  the  reveries  of  a  visionary.  Sherlock 
(who  was  afterwards  bishop  of  London)  on  the  other  hand 
warmly  espoused  his  cause ;   and  particularly,  when  the 
**  Minute  Philosopher"  came  out,  he  carried  a  copy  of  it 
to  the  queen,  and  left  it  to  her  majesty  to  determine,  whe- 
ther such  a  work  could  be  the  production  of  a  disordered 
understanding.     After  dean  Berkeley's  return  from  Rhode 
Island,  the  queen  often  commanded  his  attendance  to  dis* 
course  with  him  on  what  he  had  observed  worthy  of  notice 
in  America.     His  agreeable  and  instructive  conversation 
engaged  that  discerning  princess  so  much  in  his  fsCvour, 
that  the  rich  deanery  of  Down  in 'Ireland  falling  vacant/ 
he  was  at  her  desire  named  to  it,  and  the  king's  letter 
actually  came  over  for  his  appointment.     But  hid  friend 
lord  Burlington  having  neglected  to  notify  the  royal  inten- 
.  'tions  in   proper  time  to  the  duke  of  Dorset,  then  lord 
lieutenant  of  Ireland,  his  excellency  *was  so  offended  at 
this  disposal  of  the  richest  deanery  in  Ireland,'  withbut  his 
concurrence,  that  it  was  thought  proper  not  to  press  the 
matter  any  farther.     Her  majesty  upon  this  declared,  tliat 
since  they  would  not  suffer  Dr.  Berkeley  to  be  a  dean  in 
Ireland,  he  should  be  a  bishop  :  and  accordingly,  in  1733;* 
the  bishopric  of  Cloyne  becoming  vacant,  he  was  by  let-« 
ters  patent,  dated  March  17,  promoted  to  that  see,  afid 
was  consecrated  at  St.  Paul's  church  in  Dublin,  bn  the* 
19th  of  May  following,  byTheophilus  archbishop  of  Cashel, 
assisted  by  tlie  bishops  of  Raphoe  and  Killaloe.     His  lord- 
fihip  repaired  immediately  to  his  manse-house  at  Cloyne, 
where  he  constantly  resided  (except  one  winter  that  he 
attended  the  business  of  parliament  in  Dublin)  and  applied 
himself  with  vigour  to  the  faithful  discharge  of  all  episco-** 
pal  duties.    He  revived  in  his  diocese  the  useful  office  (stf 


BERKELErY.  €l 

)nil9l»4eaii9  jivhiich  h»d  gone  in^o  disuse ;.  visited  frequently 
|MtroiQhially  ;  and  confirmed  in  several  parts  of  hU  see. 
.    AboijLt  this  time  be.  engaged  in  a  controversy  with  the 
mathematicians,  whicb^  made  a  good  deal  of  noise  in  the 
literary  wqrld  y  and  the  Qcicasion  of  it  is  said  to  haye  been 
thvs:  Mr,  Addison  had,  many  years  before  this,  given  him 
an  account  of  theic  common  fiiend  Dr.  Garth's  behaviour 
in  his   last  illness^,  which  was  eqiially  unpl  easing  to  both 
these  advocates  of  revealed  religion.     For,  when  Addison 
went  to  see  the  doctor,  and  began  to  discourse  with  hia|L 
.seriously  about  another  world,  ^'  Sorely,  Addison,*'  replied 
jbie,  ^^  1  have  good  rqason  not  to  believe  those  trifles,  since 
my  friend  J>r.  Ha}ley,  who  has, dealt  so  much.jn  den^on- 
stratioD^  has  assured  me,  that  the  doctrines  of  Christianity 
are  incomprelM^nsible?  and.tbe  religion  itself  an  imposture.'* 
The  bishop,  therefore,  addressed  to  bim,  as  to  an  infidel 
HULthematician,;,  a  discburse  called  the  ^'  Analyst ;"  with  a 
view  to  show  that  mysteries  in  faith  wer^  unjustly  objected 
jto  by  .mathematicians,  who  admitted  much  greater  mys« 
jteries,  antd  ^vqu  falsehpods  in  scien.ce,  of  which  he  en- 
deavoured to  prove,  that  thie  doctrine  of  fluxions  furnished 
a  clear  example.     This  attacl(  gave,  opcasion  to  a  sniart 
controversy  upon  the  subject  of  fluxiqns;  the  principal  an* 
swers  to  the  "  Analys/'  were  \\ritten  by  a  .person  under 
the  name  of  Philalethes  Ca^ntabrigiensis,  generally  sup- 
posed to  be  Dr.  Jurin,  who  published  a  piece  entitled 
"Geometry  no  friend, to  Infidelity,"  1734.   , To  this  the 
bishop  rephed  in  **  A  Defence  of  Freethinking  in  Mathe- 
matics," 1735;  which  drew  a  second  answer  the  same  year 
froqd  Philalethes,  styled  "  The  minute  Mathematician,  or 
the  Freethinker  no  just    thinker:'^  and  .here  the  con^ 
troversy  ended,  and  whatever  fault  mathematicians   may 
find  in  this  hostile  attempt  .pf.  our  bishop,  it  must  be  ac-* 
knowledged  they  have  reaped  no  inponsiderable  advantage 
from  it,  inasmuph  as  it  gave  rise  to  the  Treatise  of  Fluxions 
by  MaclauHn,   in  which  the  whole  ^doctrine  is  delivered 
with  more  precision  and  fulpess  th^n  ever  w^s  done  before, 
or  probably  than  ever  ^(vould  have, been  done;,  if  no  attack 
had  been  made  upon  it. , 

Qut  the  bishop,  eyer  active  and  attentive  to  the  public 
good,  was  continually  sending  forth  liomething  or  other : 
in  1735,  the  **. Querist;"  in  1736,  "  A  Discourse  address- 
.cd  to  Magistrates,'^  occasioned  by  the  enormous  licence 


6«  ^tJi%etZT% 

wardir  Of  n  ^citolUf  kind.   1)1 1744^ dditibe  feith  his  celebft&tei 
and  curiotts  book^  (^ntit^d,  <<  ^ts;.  i  dbaiil  ait  ^htlosofihi- 
cal  fdfl^fidns  add  inquiries  oeiicirotfig  the  tittd^  of  Tsfr 
Watef :"  at  medict^e  vi^ch  hlid  b^n^  ukeful  Id  Mths^lf  in  a 
oa^e  of  iketfou^  60lic^    This  work^  he  famsf  ft^en  beard  tb 
declare,  cc^st  htm  t&6rd  tkne  and  p^iiM  than  aifjr  othef  hfe 
bad  evef  b^en  engag^^  iA«r    Itund^iWeRft  a  s^dnd  itopr^^ 
aiony  with  addkioHs  tftkl  «iJiendatic>ii^)  in  1747;  and  #a^ 
fotk>«^ed  hf  <«  FMthtf  dxoa^§  eH  Tai^  Wilt^,''  ill  l752f. 
tr>  July,  the  same  y^#,  b6  rdlfitated  witb  bi^  Md^  «f)d  fe^ 
fK»iiy  t^  Oxf^Jrd^  I^an^tity  to'  itipi^ifletid  tbcf  ^tduieaiio^  of  bis 
tOft,   i)hd  siibjeifift  of  tb6  foUo^ng  dAtiolO)  but  chiefly  €6 
hidtrlge  «be  pa^ion  for  I^i^n^  retii^^iMfi V  ^hteb  tod  eret 
dtfofigiy  p66^ett9«d  biffi^  Md  ^a^  oM  df  bill  Hkf^es  td  foM 
tbi^  Bermuda  projeot.    Aot  t»  liotie  6iHiid  bd  mf^re  sdnsibte 
ibM  bis  kydsbip  of  tbd  iittprO^tftff)^  Of  a  bisbofi^^  n6i^<^ 
f^aidendef^  te  pttViMiAf  ^ndo^t^ol^  tcS^  d^obitifge  bSs  bigR 
pt&ftrmtifit  fdr  sottid  danoiMy  €«  btadshif^  ik6  OtfoiM.    #ai(t- 
ifig  of  succ«i^  ill  tU^*  h&  aditidly  Wfo^^  o«>^  to  die  flMr«^ 
ttfry  a«  sltftte^  t§  r^qu^Mi  ttrit  li«  Ifiight  hafd  ^Mi^^fi  <6 
r^igiv  Itii  bii^^rte,  imrtfr  m  tiat  tiAie  aft  iMi^  f  4eo£  p<^ 
tfViMfnL     So  «n(:otiioioii  H  ]^i€iw  ^HoilM  his  dha^^sty^ 
ifiirlKMsicy  to  iifiqtikd  itbo  W^¥  die  exlTalerdindry  Hnm  diat 
prrdfeiVed  it :  betn^  told  tbit  k  t«>«^'  bk  old  aeqliliitiliaftc^ 
By.  Berk^%,  bie  d^toi^efd  tlfot  bd  should  di6  a  bisbop  id 
Hfpke  of  hitaself^  but  pt?ef  him  Ml  liberty  t6  reside  vrh^re 
te  ^4iea^.    t'h^l  blidbbp's  Idi»  idt  l^efoii^^  be  tefi  Gtoyiid 
W^  t($  61^  £  IddM^  of  tbo  dennifeM^r  la^ds  ifi  Hbat  THeigbbofir-' 
h5od)  t^  IM  ^6M#ed^y^rty  ki  the  r^tit  6f  2^0M:  ^btch  smxt 
btt  dir€f«liled  fo  be  distributed- «V<ery  ye^,  Umii  bi^  iiauTn, 
among  p^p'  boiiieMk^epers  of  GbyAe, .  Yoti^bftt;  atid  Ag-^ 
lAddft.  The  a«ftb6ir6f  bi^  Kfebi  ilb^  Bi6g,  Btk.  magnified  hi* 
love  f6if  f be  beam^H  o^  Gtoyiie,  but  ^bfe  hM:  was^  t^at  &d 
hiA  ly^eif  any  idea  of  €Idytie  Ha  tt  beaiitiftil  jlitnatioft^  and 
w^  are  bap^y'  W  d)f^tw  froi^  the  same  authority  vidtich  cor* 
rects  tbls^  ^tSfj  som6  adcfiliona)  partioulars  tif  Ms  disiill- 
tei'esfed  lipirife^-    He  deelaik'ed  t&  Mf<s.' Berkeley/  toon  aftef 
be  was  advanced  to  the  prelacy,  tiii§  M»  r^tolutioh  watl 
iievei*  to  obamg^'  hisi  sifee ;  bfetausei  a*  be"  afterwards  con- 
fessed fO  the  ^cbbitfhop'  6f  Ti^am,  afiid  the  late  earl  of 
SbannoA,  be  hiid  feYy  tkA^  in  bf6  got  tte*  world  und^r 
bk  f^t)^  afid  be^  b6ped  to  t^ampl^  on  it  to  bi^  latest  mro^ 
ment.    These  two  warm  friends  liad  boen  pressing  him  to 


B  E  R  K  £  Lr  K  je*  o7 

tlaaft  of  a  tranriatiofi  r  6at  be  did  not  love  episcopal  tfans^ 
latknr.  He  thought  that  they  were  sometimes  really  hurt- 
M  t6  individaatsy  ind  that  they  often  gave,  though  uii- 
jffistty,  a  bsndle  to  snspeet  of  medh  views,  an  order  to' 
vbioh  t^at  holy  atid  humble  oKin  was  himself  an  honour, 
and  to  which  it  may  be  said,  without  adulation,  that  he 
would  faoLve  been  an  honour  in  any  age  of  the  church. 
Humble  and  imaspiri^ng  as  was  the  bishop  of  Cioyne,  thef 
•arl  of  Chesterfirid  sought  him  oat ;  and  when,  as  a  tribute 
io  exalted  merit,  that  nobleman  offered  to  liim  tl  e  see  of 
Cb^bctf,  wh^re  be  tipas  told  be  might  immediately  receive 
ines  to  the  amount  of  tefi  thousand  pounds,  he  consulted 
M».  Berkdiay,  as  having  a  family,  and,  with  her  full  ap- 

Sd)aiwn,  tior  oniy  declined  the  bishopric  of  Clogher^  but 
e  offer  which  accompanied  that  proposal,  of  any  other 
tramislatiofi  wMcb  might  become  feasible  dufing  lord  Ches- 
tetfieid^s  administraition.  The  primacy  wa^  vacated  befbrd 
the  expirKOioi!  of  tbat  peiiod«  On  tiiat  occasion,  the  brsliop 
said  toMrif.  Berk€kiy»  *^  J  desire  to  add  one  more  to  the 
Ust  oC  ckuvchmewy  who  s»fe  evidently  dead  to  annbition  and 
asaiice***  tuit  befcre  tai#  embarkation  for  America,  queen 
CflRrolnNir  dndeav^dumd  to  sta^ge#  his  resolution,  by  the  of- 
fer ^f  ajii>  En^isfa  mitre  ^  bnt,  in  reply,  he  assured  he^ 
tBn^emiyf  ^lae  he  chose  rather  to  be  president  of  St.  {'aul's 
eoHege,  tilati  primate  of  all  En^and. 

At  Oxford  he  lived  highly  respected,  a^idf  collected  and 
pfinted  tk^  minfe  year  aft  his  smaller  pieces  in  8vo ;  but  he 
diii«otli^0loi»g;  fi>r,  on  Sunday  evening,  Jan.  14,  1753, 
m)m  w»  in  the  HiMsl  of  his  fiimily,  listening  to'  the  lesson 
itttdie  burkbl  serm#  wfaitoh  his  kdy  was  reading  to  hini,  he 
W9m  seittdd  with  iirhat  was  called  a  palsy  in  the  heart,  and 
inMMby  ejipilred  The  accident  wa»  so  smMen,  that  hi^ 
body  waa  cotd^  and bis^joifnts  stiff,  before  it  was  discovered: 
aa  be  lay  upeo  a  ooueh,  ^^  seeitted  to  be  asleep,  till  his 
daughMVy  ewr  pwimmitig  him  with  a  dish  of  tea,  first  per- 
pntei^d  ]Ai  iii8e)itiifbili4^.  His  remains  were  interred  at 
CiMist  eiMVeh,  Osford,  and  there  ^  an  elegant  marble 
mmmamffb  over  bim^  wi^  an  inscription  by  Dr.  M arkham, 
thM  mttitev  of  Westminster  sehool  and  late"  archbishop  of 
York 

Hm  w  klis  pef80D>  he  was^  handsome,  with  a  countenatitd 
full  of  meaning  and  kindness,  remarkable  for  sreat  strength 
of  limbs  f..  and,  till  his  sedentary  life  impaired  it,  of  a  very 
robust  constitutions     H*  was^,  howe«mr,  often  trotrbled  with 


64  BERKELEY. 

the  hypochondria^  and  latterly  with  a  nervous  colic^  from 
which  he  was  greatly  relieved  by  the  virtues  of  bis  favourite 
tar-watefy  which  he  brought  into  extensive  use.  It  was 
at  one  time  a  fashion  to  drink  this  medicine,  to  which 
more  virtues  were  attached  than  the  good  bishop  had  ever 
thought  of.  When  at  Cloyne,  he  spent  the  mornings 
<  and  often  a  great  part  of  the  day,  in  study ;  and  Plato, 
from  whom  many  of  his  notions  were  borrowed,  was  his 
favourite  author.  The  excellence  of  his  mpral  character  is 
conspicuous  in  his  writings :  he  was  certainly  a  very  amia* 
ble  as  well  as  a  very  great  man.  Atterbury  dnce  declared 
that  he  did  not  think  so  much  understanding,  so  much 
knowledge,  so  much  innocence,  and  so  much  humility,  had 
been  the  portion  of  any  but  angels,  until  he  saw  Mr* 
Berkeley* 

Dr.  Berkeley  has  not  been  very  fortunate  in  his  bio* 
graphers.  An  account  of  him  was  drawn  up  by  his  brother, 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Robert  Berkeley,  vicar-gener^  of  Cloyne, 
who  died  in  1787.  This  was  first  inserted  in  the  Biog. 
Britannica,  and  many  mistakes  pointed  put,  and  additions 
made  to  it  in  a  subsequent  volume  of  that  work.  Pre- 
viously to  this,  in  1776,  an  ^^  Account  of  his' Life' '  was  pub- 
lished in  a  thin  octavo  volume,  at  London,  which  probably 
was  drawn  up  from  family  information.  Of  this  a,  second 
edition  was  published  in  1784,  professedly  ^'  with  improve- 
ments,'* but  the  errors  both  of  the  first  edition  and  of  the 
Biog.  Brit,  which  had  then  appeared,  are  retained. .  In 
1784  a  new  edition  of  the  bishop's  entire  works  was  pub- 
lished at  Dublin  and  London,  2  vols.  4to,  with  the  octavo 
life  prefixed.  The  third  vol.  of  the. Biog.  Brit,  contains 
some  important  information  from  the  bishop's  widow  (who 
died  1786)  and  which  we  have  endeavoured  to  incorporate. 
It  remains  only  to  be  noticed  that  the  romance  called  the 
*^  Adventures  of  Signor  Gaudentio  di  Lucca,''  often  attri* 
buted  to  our  author,  wsis  certainly  not  his  production.  ^ 

BERKELEY  (George,  LL.  D.  prebendary  of  Canter- 
bury,) second  son  of  the  preceding,  by  Anne,  eldest 
daughter  of  the  right  hon.  John  Forste;:,  a  privy-counsellor 
and  speaker  of  the  Irish  house  of  commons,  by  Anne, 
daughter  to  the  right  hon.  John  Monck,  brother  to  tbe 
duke  of  Albemarle,  was  born  on  the  98th  of  September 

« 

•  «  Biog.  Brit. — Life,  8vo.  1784. — Gent*.  May.  See  Index.-— Reid,  Beattie,  and 
Mr.  Dagatd  Stewart  in  his  late  Essays  (1810)  have  treated  of  Dr.  Berkeley's 
Metaphysics. -"-British  Essayists,  Pre^qe  to  the  Ouardiaii. 


B  E  R  K  E  LEY.  es 

llSSf  old  style,  in  GrosTenor^street,  Gro^venor-squam;  tn 
his  infaDcy  he  was  removed  widi  the  family  to  Ireland^ 
where  he  was  instructed  in  the  classics  by  bis  father  only^ 
the  bishop  taking  that  part  of  the-education  of  his  sons  on 
himself.  Instructed  in  every  elegant  and  useful  aCcom* 
plishment,  Mr.  Berkdey  was,  at  d^  age  of  nineteen^  sent 
over  to  Oxford  ;  his  fadier  leaving  it  to  his  own  choice  to 
enter  a  gentleman  commoner,  ^Jier  at  Christ  church  or 
St  John^s  college*  But  bishop  Conybeare,  then  deaii  of 
Christ  church,  on  his  arrival  offering  him  a  student^ip  in 
that  society,  he  accepted  it,  finding  many  of  the  students  to 
be  gentlemen  of  the  first  character  for  learning  and  rank  in 
the  kingdom.  His  first  tutor  was  the  late  learned  archbishop 
pf  York,  Dr.  Markham ;  on  whose  removal  to  Westminister* 
school,  he  put  himself  under  the  tuition  of  Dr.  Smallwelb 
afterwards  bishop  of  Oxford.  Having  taken  the  degree  of 
B.  A.  he  served  the  office  of  collector  in  the  university,  and 
as  he  was  allowed  by  his  contemporaries  to  be  an  excellent 
Latin  scholar,  his  collector's  speech  was  universally  ad* 
mired  and  applauded.  In  1 758  he  took  a  small  living  firom 
his  society,  the  vicarage  of  EastGarston,  Berks,  from  which 
be  was  removed,  in  1759,  by  archbishop  Sicker,  hid  sole 
patron,  to  the  vicarage  of  Bray,  Berks ;  of  which  he  was 
only  the  fifth  vicar  smce  the  reformatioo.  In  1759,  also, 
he  took  the  degree  of  M.  A.«-*The  kindness  of  archbishop 
Seeker  (who  testified  the  highest  respect  for  bishop  Berke- 
ley's oQieoioiy  by  his  attention  to  his  deserving  son)  did  not 
rest  here ;  he  gave  him  also  the  chancellorship  of  Breck* 
nock,  the  rectory  of  Acton,  Middlesex,'  md  the  sixth  pre« 
bendal  stall  in  the  churcli  of  Canterbury.  In  1768  he  had 
taken  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  for  which  he  went  out  grand 
compounder,  and  soon  afterwards  resigned  the  rectory  of 
Acton.  Some  time  after  he  had  obtained  the  chanceUor* 
diip  of  Brecknock,  he  put  himself  to  rery  considerable  ex« 
pence  in  order  to  render  permanent  two  ten  pounds  per 
annum,  issuing  out  of  liie  estate,  to  two  poor  Welch  cura- 
cies. The  vicamge  of  Bray  he  exchangied  for  that  of 
Cookham  near  Maidenhead,  and  had  afterwards  firom  the 
church  of  Canterbury  the  vicarage  of  East-Peckbifm,  Kent^ 
whidi  he  rehnquished  on  obtaining'  the'  rectory  of  St  de- 
mentis Danes ;  which  with  the  vicarage  of  Tyshufst,  Sus« 
sex  (to  which  he  was  presented  by  the  church  of  Canter- 
bury in  1792,  when  he  vacated  Cookham),  and  with  the 
chancellorship  of  Brecknock,  he  held  till  his  death.  *  His 
Vou  V,  F. 


M  /B  E  R  K  E  LEY. 

illness  had  been  long  and  painful,  but  borne  with  exem* 
plary  resignation ;.  and  his  death  was  so  cairn  and  easy  that 
ao  pang  was  observed,  no  groan  was  heard,  by  his  attending 
wife  and  relations.  He  •died  Jan.  6,  1795,  and  was  in* 
terred  in  his  father's  voxdt  in  Christ  church,  Oxford.  Not 
long  before  his  death,  he  expressed  his  warmest  gratitude 
to  Mrs.  Berkeley^  of  whose  affection  he  was! truly  sensible, 
and  of  whom  he  txM)k  a  most  tender  farewell.  Dr.  Berke-* 
\ey\%  quaUfications  and  attainments  were  such  as  occasioned 
bis  .death  to  be  lamented  by  many.  He  was  the  charitable 
divine,,  the  affectionate  and  active  friend,  the  elegant  scho« 
Jar,  the  accomplished  gentleman..  He  possessed  an  exqui- 
.4ite  sensibility.  To  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  sick  and 
needy,  and  to  patronize  the  friendless,  were  employments 
in  which  his  heart  and  his  hand  ever  co-operated.  Jn  the 
pulpit  his  manner  w.as  animated^  and  his  matter  forcible. 
Ilis  conversation  always  enlivened  the  social  meetings 
where  he  was  present ;  for  he  was  equalled  by  few  in  affa- 
bility of  temper  and  address,  in  the  happy  recital  of  agree- 
able anecdote,  in  the  ingenious  discussion  of  literary  sub- 
jects, or  in  the  brilliant  display  of  a  lively  imagination. 

Dr.  Berkeley  published  two  or  three  single  sermons ;  one 
of  which,  preached  on  the  anniversary  of  king  Charles's 
martyrdom,  1785,  entitled  <^  The.  danger  of  violent  inno- 
vations in  the  state,  how  specious  soever  the  pretence, 
exemplified  from  the  reigns  of  the  two  first  Stuarts^''  has 
gone  through  six  editions,  the  last  in  1794 ;  one  on  Good 
Friday  1787;  one  at  Cookham  on  the  king's  accession, 
1789.  His  Sermon  on  the  consecration  of  bishop  Home 
was  not  published  until  after  his  death.  In  1799,  his 
widow  published  a  volume  of  his. Sermons  with  a  biogra- 
phical'preface.  He  married,  in  1761,  Eliza>  eldest. daugh- 
ter and  coheiress  of  the  rev.  Henry  Finsham,  M.  A.  by 
Eliza,  youngest  daughter  and  one  of  the  coheiresses  of  the 
truly  pious  and  learned  Francis  Cherry,  esq.  of  Shottes- 
brook-house  in  the  county  of  Berks,  by  whom  he  had  four 
children,  now  no  more.  The  la^e  bishop  Home,  we  maV 
add,  was  one  of  Dr.  Beti^eley's  earliest  and  most  intiAiaie 
friends^  the  loss  of  whom  he  severely  felt,  and  of  whom  he 
was  used  to  speak  with  the  sincerest  respect  ai^d  the  most 
affectionate  regards 

This  memoir^  we  have  some  reason  to  think,  was  drawn 

up  for  the  preceding  edition  of  this  work,  by  his  widow,  a 

Jady  who  claims  some  notice  on  her  own  account.  She  died 


B  K  ft  K  E  L  E  r.  <7 

at  Kensington,  Nov.  4,  liBOO,  leaving  a  character  rather 
difficult  to  appreciate.  In  1797,  she  published  th^  "Poenw'* 
of  her  son  George  Monck  Berkeley,  esq.  in  a  magnificent 
quarto  volume,  with  a  very  long,  rambling  preface  of  anec*' 
dotes  and  remarks,  amidst  which  she  exhibits  many  traits 
of  her  own  character.  She  was  unquestionably  a  lady  of 
considerable  talents,  but  her  fancy  was  exuberant,  and  her 
petty  resentmentii  Were  magnified  into  an  importance  visi- 
ble perhaps  only  to  herself.  She  had  accumulated  a  stock 
of  various  knowledge,  understood  French  perfectly  and 
spoke  it  fluently.  She  likewise  read  Spanish  and  Hebrew, 
and  always  took  her  Spanish  Prayer*book  with  her  to 
church.  This  was  but  one  of  her  peculiarities.  In  con-^ 
versatfon,  as  in  writing,  she  was  extremely  entertaining, 
except  to  those  who  wished  also  to  entertain ;  and  her  sto- 
ries and  anecdotes,  although  given  in  correct  and  .fluent 
language,  lost  much  of  their  effect,  sometimes  from  lengthy 
and  sometimes  from  repetition.  She  had,  however,  a  warm 
friendly  heart,  amidst  al}  her  oddities ;  and  her  very  nu- 
merous contributions  to  the  Gentleman's  Magazine  con- 
tain no  small  portion  of  entertainment  and  information^ 
Her  ^oUf  the  above-mentioned  George  Monck  Berkeley^ 
published  in  1789,  an  amusing  volume  of  anecdote  and 
biography,  under  the  title  of  "  Literary  Relics."  * 

BERKELEY  (George  Earl  of)  descended  in  a  direct 
Hne  from  Robert  Fitzharding,  who  was  of  the  royal  house 
of  Denmark.  He  with  his  nephew,  Charles  Berkeley,  had 
the  principal  management  of  the  duke  of  York's  family, 
and  was  one  of  the  privy  council  in  the  reign  of  Charles  IL 
James  IL  and  William  IIL  At  the  restoration  he  mani« 
fested  great  loyalty  for  Charles  IL  and  was  advanced  to  the 
dignity  of  viscount  Dursley  and  earl  of  Berkeley  in  1679. 
One  of  his  most  munificent  acts  was  his  bestowing  on  the 
public  library  of  Sion  college,  a  vahiable  collection  of 
books  formed  by  sir  Robert  Coke.  He  died  Oct.  1 4^  1698, 
aged  seve»ty*one,  and  was  buried  at  Cranford  in  Middle- 
sex. Lord  Orford  attributes  to  him,  on  good  authority, 
a  curious  and  scarce  work  of  the  religious  cast,  entitled 
**  Historical  applications  and  occasional  meditations  upon 
several  subjects.  Written  by  a  person  of  honour,"  1^70, 
12mo.  In  this  book  are  several  striking  instances  of  the 
testimony  which  some  men  of  eminence  have  borne  to  the 

'  Dr.  Berkeley's  SennoDS.^'^eQt.  Mag.  1795,  1800^  and  1792,  p.  185. 

F   3 


48  BERKELEY. 

importance  of  religious  life,  and  the  consolation  to  he  re* 
ceived  from  it,  especially  at  the  approach  of  death.  Fen- 
ton,  in  his  observations  on  a  short  poem,  prefixed  to  thid 
work  by  Waller,  says  that  his  lordship  was  a  person  of 
strict  virtue  and  piety,  but  of  such  undistinguisbing  affa- 
bility to  men  of  ^I  ranks  and  parties,  that  Wycberley  has 
been  supposed  to  have  drawn  his  character  of  ^^  Lord  PlaU'^ 
sible,''  in  the  Plain  Dealer,  from  him ;  a  circumstaace  that 
cannot  detract  much  from  his  lordship's  reputation,  for 
Wycberley  was  a  poor  judge  of  men  of  "  strict  virtue  and 
piety."  Beside^  the  above  work,  of  which  a  third  editioii 
appeared  in  1680,  lord  Berkeley  published,  the  same  year^ 
V  A  speech  to  the  Levant  Company  at  their  annual  eiec« 
tion,  Feb.  9,   1680;'^ 

BERKELEY  (Sir  Robert),  one  of  the  justices  of  the 
king's  bench  in  the  time  of  Charles  L  was  born  in  1 584, 
the  second  son  of  Rowland  Berkeley,  esq.  of  Spetcbly  in 
Worcestershire,  where  his  descendants  yet  live  ;  and  was 
by  the  female  line,  descended  from  Thomas  Mowbray, 
duke  of  Norfolk,  who  flourished  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  IV. 
and  V.  In  the  19  James  L  be  served  the  office  of  high 
sheriff  for  the  county  of  Worcester ;  in  the  3d  Charles  I« 
was  made  king's  serjeant,  and  in  the  8th  of  the  same  reign, 
was  made  a  justice. of  the  court  of  king's  bench.  WUle 
in  this  ofEce,  he,  with  eleven  of  his  brethren,  gave  his 
opinion  in  favour  of  ship-money ;  and  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  tenor  of  his  conduct  in  private  life,  as  well  as 
upon  the  bench,  from  honest  motives ;  but  as  be  bad  been 
active  on  other  occasions  in  what  he  seems  to  have  thought 
his  duty,  and  was  a  man  of  fortune,  he  was  singled  out  by 
parliament  as  a  proper  object  of  their  vengeance.  .  He  waa 
accordingly  impeached  of  high  treason,  and  adjudged  to 
pay  a  fine  of  20,000/.  to  be  deprived  of  his  office  of  judge, 
and  rendered  incapable  of  holding  any  place,  or  receiving ' 
any  honour  in  the  state  or  commonwealth :  be  was  also  to 
be  imprisoned  in  the  Tower  during  the  pleasure  of  the 
house  of  lords.  Having  made  some  ^^satisfaction''  for  his 
fine  to  the  parliament,  he  was  by  their  authority,  dis-^ 
charged  from  the  whole,  and  set  at  liberty,  after  he  had 
been  upwards  of  sev^i  months  in  the  Tower*  But  he  af^ 
terwards  suffered  greatly  by  the  plunderings  and  exactions 

1  Park's  edit,  of  the  Royal  and  Noble  Authors.— CoUiiM's  Peera£e.^-<-Gnuiceiw 


BERKELEY,  e9 

6f  the  rebels,  and  a  little,  before  the  battle  of  Worcester, 
ibe  Presbyterians,  though'  engaged  in  the  king's  service, 
retained  their  ancient  animosity  against  him,  and  burnt  hi^ 
house  at  Spetchly  to  the  ground.  He  afterwards  cbnvert- 
ed  the  stables  into  a  dwelling-house,  and  lived  with  con- 
tent, and  even  dignity,  upon  the  wreck  of  his  fortune.  He 
was  a  true  son  of  the  church  of  England,  and  suffered  more 
from  the  seduction  of  his  only  son  Thomas  to  the  church  of 
Rome,  at  Brussels,  than  from  all  the  calamities  of  the  civil 
war.     He  died  Aug.  5,   1656.* 

BERKELEY  (Sir  William),  a  native  of  London^  was 
the  youngest  son  of  sir  Maurice  Berkeley,  and  brother  of 
John  lord  Berkeley  of  Stratton.  He  was  elected  proba« 
tioner  fellow  of  Merton  college,  Oxford,  in  1625,  and  four 
years  after  was  admitted  M.  A.  In  1630,  he  set  out  on  his 
travels,  where  he  seems  to  have  acquired  diat  knowledge 
which  fitted  him  for  public  business,  and  on  his  return,  be<- 
came  gentleman  of  the  privy-chariiber  to  Charles  L  lu 
1646,  he  went  on  some  commission  to  Virginia,  of  which 
province  he  had  afterwards  the  government.  He  mvited 
many  of  the  royalists  to  retire  thither  as  a  place  of  security, 
and  hinted  in  a  letter  to  king  Charles  1.  that  it  would  not 
be  an  unfit  place  as  a  retreat  for  his  majesty ;  depending, 
perhaps,  more  upon  the  improbability  of  its  being  attacked, 
than  on  its  means  of  defence.  Virginia,  however,  was  not 
long  a  place  of  safety ;  the  parliament  sent  some  ships  with 
a  small  force,  who  took  possession  of  the  province  vdthout 
difficulty,  9,nd  removed  sir  Wiliiatn  Berkeley  from  the  go- 
vernment, but  suffered  him  to  remain  unmolested  upon  his 
private  estate.  In  1660,  on  the  death  of  colonel  Matthews, 
in  consideration  of  h}s  ^^vices,  particularly  in  defending 
the  English  from  being  killed  by  the  natives,  and-  in  de«- 
stiroying  great  numbers  of  the  Indians  without  losing  three  of 
his  own  men,  he  was  again  made  governor,  and  continued  in 
that  office  un^il  i;676,  whep  be  returned  to  England,  after 
an  absence  of  thirty  years.  He  died  the  following  year^ 
md  was  buried  July  13,  in  the  parish  church  of  Twicken«- 
fcom.  His  wtitings  iare,  ^  The  Lost  Lady,"  a  tntgi-^comedy^ 
liond.  163^,  fol.  and,  as  the  editor  of  the  Biog.  Dram« 
tkiMts,  another  p)ay  called  <^  Cornelia,"  1662,  not  printed 
biA  aderibedrte  a  * ^^ sir  Williatti  B^ftley.*'    l^e  mote  aJs6  a 


»       ■     •      •  * 


•  Granger's  Biog.  and  letters  by  Malcolm,  p.  217,  253— 261  .^Peck's  J)e» 


70  B  E  R  K  E  L  E  ¥• 

V  Description  of  Virginia,'*  fol.  In  Francis  Moryson's  edi-* 
tion  of  "  The  Laws  of  Virginia,"  Lond.  1662,  fol.  the  pre- 
face informs  us  that  sir  William  was  the  author  of  the  best 
of  them.  * 

BERKENHOUT  (Dr.  John),  an  English  miscellaneous 
writer,  was  born,  about  1730,  at  Leeds  in  Yorkshire,  and 
educated  at  the  grammar-school  in  that  town.  His  father^ 
who  was  a  merchant,  and  a  native  of  Holland,  intended  him 
for  trade  ;  and  with  that  view  sent  him  at  an  early  age  to 
Germany,  in  order  to  learn  foreign  languages.  After  con- 
tinuing a  few  years  in  that  -country,  be  made  the  tour  of 
Europe  in  company  with,  one  or  more  English  noblemed. 
On  their  return  to  Germany  they  visited  Berlin,  where 
Mr.  Berkenhout  met  with  a  near  relation  of  his  father's, 
the  baron  de  Bielfeldt,  a  nobleman  then  in  high  estimation 
with  the  late  king  of  Prussia ;  distinguished  as  one  of  the 
fountlers  of  the  royal  academy  of  sciences  at  Berlin,  and 
universally  known  as  a  politician  and  a  man  of  letters. 
.With  this  relation  our  young  traveller  fixed  his  abode  for 
some  time ;  and,  regardless  of  bis  original  destination,  be- 
came a  cadet  in  a  Prussian  regiment  of  foot.  He  soon  ob- 
tained an  ensign's  commission  ;  aud,  in  the  space  of  a  few 
years,  was  advanced  to  the  rank  of  captain^  He  quitted 
the  Prussian  service  on  the  declaration  of  war  between 
England  and  France  in  1756,  and  was  honoured  with  the 
command  of  accompany  in  the  service  of  his  native  coun- 
try. When  peace  was  concluded  in  1760,  he  went  to 
Edinburgh,  and  commenced  student  of  physic.  During 
his  residence  at  that  university  he  compiled  his  ^^  Clavid 
Anglic^  l^ihguas  Botanicae  ;"  a  book  of  singular  utility  to 
all  students  of  botany,  and  at  that  time  the  only  botanical 
lexicon  in  our  language,  and  particularly  expletive  of  the 
Linnsean  system.  It  wis  not,  however,  published  until 
1765. 

Having  continued  some  years  at  Ediqburgb,  Mr.  Ber- 
Jienhout  went  to  the  univer^ty  of  Leyden^  where  he  topk 
the  degree  of  doctor  of  physic,  in  1 765,  as  w^  learn  from  his 
y  Ditsertatio  medica  inauguralis  de  Podagra,"  dedicated  to 
)iis  relation  baron  de  BielfeUt.  Returning  to  England, 
J>r.  Berkenhout  settled  at  Islewortb  in  Middlesex,  and  in 
1766,  published  his  '^Pharoiacopoeia  Medici,"  12mo,  the 
third  edition  of  which  was  printed  in  1782.     In  1769,  he 

>  Aili.  On,  II.  5$6.— •Bi9|.  ])iaBU-**Lj«oiui'B  JBattifOB^  vol.  IIK 


BERKENHOUT..  71; 

publisked  '<  Oatliries  of  the  Natural  ill$tory  of  Great  Bri- 
tain and  Ireland,  vol.  I.;  vol.  11.  appeared  in  1770,  and  vol. 
III.  in  1771.  The  encourageiQent  this  work  met  with  af« 
forded  at  least  a  proof  that '  something  of  the  kind  was 
wanted.  The  three  volumes  were  reprinted  together  in 
1773,  and  in  1783  were  again  published  in  2  vols.  8vo, 
under  the  title  of  **  Synopsis  of  the  Natural  History  of 
Great  Britain,  &c.^'  In  t771,  he  published  *^  Dr.  Cado* 
gan's  dissertation  on  the  Gout,  .examined  and  routed  ;'* 
and  in  1777,  ^^  Biographia  Literaria,  or  a  Biographical. 
History  of  Literature;  containing  the  lives  of  English, 
Scotch,  and  Irish  authors,  from  the  dawn  of  letters  in  these, 
kingdoms  to  the  present  time,  chfonologically  apd  cift^- 
sically  arranged,"  4to,  vol.  I.  the  only  volume  whiclvap- 
peared.  The  lives  are  v«ry  short,  and  the  author  frequently 
introduces  sentiments  hostile  to.  religious  establistiments. 
and  doctrines,  which  could  not  be  very  acce{>table  to  Eng- 
lish readers.  The  dates  and  facts,  however,  are  given. 
with  great  accuracy,  and  in  many  of  the  Uves>  he  profited; 
by  the  assistance  of  George  Steeveus,  esq.  the  celebrated 
commentator  on  Shakspeare.  This  was  followed  by  "A 
treatise  on  Hysterical  Diseases,  translated  from  the  French.^' 
In  1778,  he  wajs  sent  by  governmeift  with  certain  com« 
niissioners  to  treat  with  America,  but  neither  the  commis- 
sioners nor  their  secretary  were  suffered  by  the  congress 
to  proceed  further  thjan  New- York.  Dn*  Berkenhout,  how- 
ever, found  means  to  penetrate  as  fai:  as  Philadelphia, 
where  the  congress  was  then  assembled.  He  appears  to 
have  remained  in  that  city  for  some  time  without  molesta-^ 
tion  ;  but  at  last  on  suspicion  that  he  was,  sent  by  lord 
North  for  the  purpose  of  tampering  with  spme  of  their 
leading  members,  he  was  seized  and  committed  to  prison. 
How  long  he  remained  a  state  prisoner,  or  by  what  means 
he  obtained  his  liberty,  we  are  not  informed  ;  but  we  find 
from  the  public  prints,  that  he  rejoined  the  commissioners 
at  New  York,  and  returned  with  them  to  England. — For 
this  temporary  sacrifice  of  the  emoluments  of  his  profes- 
sion, and  in  consideration  of  political  services,  he  obtained 
a  pension.  In  1780,  he  published  his  '^  Lucubrations  oa 
Ways  and  Means,  inscribed  to  lord  North,"  proposing  cer* 
tain  taxes,  some  of  which  were  adopted  by  that  minister, 
and  some  afterwards  by  Mr.  Vuu  Dr.  Berkenhout^s  friends 
at  that  time  appear  to  have  taken  some  pains  to  point  tuoi 
Ottt  as  ap  inventor  of  taxes.    His  n^t  work  was  ^^  An^  essay 


i2  B  EB  K  E  N  H  O  U  T. 

oil  th^  Bite  of  &  Mad  Dog,  in  wluch  the  claim  to  infalli-* 
bility  of  the  principal  preservative  remedies  against  the 
Hydrophobia  is  examined.''  In  the  year  following  Dr. 
Berkenhout  published  his  ^*  S}rmptomau)logy ;''  a  book 
which  is  too  universally  known  to  require  any  recommenda- 
tion. In  1798,  appeared  ^^  First  lines  of  the  theory  and 
practice  of  Philosophical  Chemistry,"  dedicated  to  Mn 
Eden,  afterwards  lord  Auckland,  whom  the  doctor  accom- 
panied to  America.  Of  this  book  it  is  sufficient  to  say^ 
that  it  exhibits  a  satis&ctory  display  of  the  present  state 
of  chemistry.  His  la;st  publication  was  *^  Letters  on  Edu* 
cation,  to  his  son  at  Oxford,''  1791,  2  vols.  12mo;  but  in 
17^^^ 9,  he  published  a  continuation  of  Dr.  Campbell's 
•*  Lives  of  the  Admirals,"  4  vols.  8vo ;  and  once  printed 
^  Proposals  for  a  history  of  Middlesex,  including  London,'* 
4  vols.  fol.  ^  which,  as  the  design  dropt,  were  never  circu- 
lated. There  is  also  reason  to  suppose  him  the  author  of 
certain  humorous  publications,  in  prose  and  verse,  to  which 
he  did  not  think  fit  to  prefix  bis  name,  and  of  a  translation 
from  the  Swedish  language,  of  the  celebrated  count  Tes*** 
sin's  letters  to  the  late  king  of  Sweden.  It  is  dedicated  to^ 
the  prince  of  Wales,  his  present  majesty  of  Great  Britain ; 
and  was,  we  believe,  Mr.  Berkenhout's  first  publication^ 
He  died  the  3d  of  April  1791,  aged  60. 

When  we  reflect  on  the  variety  of  books  that  bear  his 
name,  we  cannot  but  be  surprised  at  the  extent  and  va* 
riety  of  the  knowledge  they  contain.  He  was  originally 
intended  for  a  merchant;  thence  his  knowledge  of  the 
principles  of  commerce.  He  was  some  years  in  one  of  the 
best  disciplined  armies  in  Europe ;  thence  his  knowledge 
of  the  art  of  war.  His  translation  of  count  Tessin's  Letters 
shew  him  to  be  well  acquainted  with  the  Swedish  language^ 
and  that  he  is  a  good  poet  His  Pharmacopoeia  Medici, 
&c.  demonstrate  his  skQl  in  his  profession.  His  Outlines 
of  Natural  Histoiy,  and  his  Botanical  Lexicon,  prove  hia 
knowledge  in  every  branch  of  natural  history.  His  FirsI 
Unes  of  Philosophical  Chemistry  have  convinced  the  worI4 
ef  his  intimate  acquaintance  with  that  science.  His  essay 
en  Ways  and  Means  proves  him  well  acquainted  with  the 
system  of  taxation.  All  his  writings  prove  him  to  have 
been  a  classical  scholar,  and  it  is  known  that  the  Italianji 
French,  German,  and  Dutch  languages  were  fiimiliar  to 
him.     He  was  morepver  a  painter ;  i^nd  played  ^ell^  it  is^ 

'  l^  6h  yarious  musical  instruqien^    To  theffa  aG<|iiiHft^ 


BEttKEKIlOtJT.  ii 

jnenti  may  he  added,  a  cofirid^able  degree  bf  matke^^ 
matical  knowledge,  which  he  Attained  in  the  coarse  of  hit 
Inilitaty  studies.  An  individual  so  univer^Uy  informed  as 
Dr.  Berkenbout,  is  an  extraordinary  appearance  in  the  re« 
public  of  letters.-^Iil  this  chani<;ter,  whioh,  we  believe^ 
was  published  in  his  life-time,  there  is  the  evident  hand  of 
a  friend.  Dr.  Berkenhout,  however,  itiay  be  allowed  to 
have  been  an  ingenious  and  well-informed  man,  but  as  an 
liuthor  he  ranks  among  the  useful,  rather  than  the  original; 
and  the  comparisons  of  his  friends  between  him  and  the 
**  admirable  Chrichton**  are,  to  say  the  least,  highly  inju-* 
dicious.' 

BERNARD  (St.)  one  of  the  most,  if  not  the  most  dis« 
doguished  character  of  the  twelfth  century,  was  born  at 
Fountaine,  a  village  of  Burgundy,  in  1091,  and  was  the 
son  of  Tecelinus,  a  military  nobleman,  renowned  for  what 
was  then  deemed  piety.  His  mother,  Aleth,-  who  has  the 
same  character,  had  seven  children  by  her  husband,  of 
whom  Bernard  was  the  third.  From  his  infancy  he  was 
devoted  to  religion  and  study,  and  made  a  rapid  progress 
in  the  learning  of  the  times.  He  took  an  early  resolution 
to  retire  from  the  world,  and  engaged  all  his  brothers,  and 
several  c^his  friends  in  the  same  monastic  views  with  him« 
self.  The  most  rigid  rules  were  most  agreeable  to  his  in- 
clination, and  hence  he  became  a  Cistertian,  the  strictest 
of  the  orders  in  France,  The  Cistertians  were  at  that  time 
but  few  in  number,  men  being  discouraged  from  uniting* 
with  them  on  account  of  their  excessive  austerities.  Ber- 
nard, however,  by  his  superior  genius,  his  eminent  piety,  and 
his  ardent  zeal,  gave  to  this  order  a  lustre  and  a  celebrity^' 
^hich  their  institution  by  no  means  deserved.  At  the  age 
of  twenty -three,  with  more  than  thirty  companions,  he 
entered,  into  the  monastery.  Other  houses  of  the  ordet* 
arose  soon  ;|fter,  and  he  himself  was  appointed  abbot  of 
Clairval.  To  those  noviciates  who  desired  admission,  hd 
used  to  say,  ^*If  ye  hasten  to  those  things  which  are  with* 
in,  dismiss  your  bbdies,  which  ye  brought  from  the  world ; 
let  the  spirits  alone  enter;  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing.'* 
Yet  Bernard  gradually  learned  to  correct  the  barshnes* 
and  asperity  of  his  sentiment;s,  and  while  he  preached 
mortification  to  bis  disciples,  led  them  on  with  more  mild*-' 

1  Contdaed  fraw  ^  Tery  erroaeoiks  acoovnt  in  the  last  «(Uti<Ni  of  Uim  9jiik» 
tjofMnr.— >£iUrQpc«|i  24t||;»zine^.  naS«<^eot«  Mai;;.  Tol.  LXI^ 


?♦  BERNARD.:. 

ness  and  cleisency  than  he  exercised  towards  bnaself^  >  Foi$ 
some  time  he  injured  his  own  Jiealth  exceedingly;  by  aus-r 
terities,  and,  as  he  afterwards  confessed,  threw  a^stujrnbliug 
block  in  the  way  of  the  weak,  by  exacting  of  them  a  de« 
gree  of  perfection,  which  he  himself  had  not  att^in^d.  Afn 
ter  be  had  recovered  from  these  excesses,  he  began  to 
exert  himself  by  travelling  and  preaching  from  place  to 
place,  and  such  were  his  powers  of  eloquence,  or  the  cha* 
racter  in  which  he  was  viewed,  that  he  soon  acquired  an 
astonishing  prevalence,  and,  his  word  became  a  law  to 
princes  and  nobles.  His  eloquence,  great  as  it  was,  was 
aided  in  the  opinion  of  his  hearers  by  his  sincerity  and 
humility,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  his  reputation  for 
those  qualities  was  justly  founded*  He  constantly  refused 
the  highest  ecclesiastical  dignities,  among  which  the 
bishoprics  of  Genoa,  Milan,  and  Rheims,  niay  be  instaqced, 
although  his  qualifications  were  indisputable.  Such  was 
his  influence,  that  during  a  schism  which  happened  in  the 
church  of  Rome,  his  authority  determined  both  Louis  VI. 
king  of  France  and  Henry  I.  king  of  England,  to  support 
the  claims  of  Innocent  II.,  one  instance,  among  many,  to* 
prove  the  ascendancy  he  had  acquired.  Yet  sdthough  no 
potentate,  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  possessed  such  real 
power  as  he  did,  in  the  Christian  world,  and  though  he 
stood  the  highest  in  the  judgment  of  all  men,  he  remained 
in  his  own  estimation  the  lowest,  and  referred  all  he  did 
to  divine  grace. 

.  His 'power,  however,  was  not  always  employed  to  the 
best  purposes.  The  crusade  of  Louis  VII.  was  supported 
by  Bernard's  eloquence,  who  unhappily  prevailed  to  draw 
numbers  to  join  that  monarch  in  his  absurd  expedition, 
which  was,  in  its  consequences,  pregnant  with  misery  and 
ruin.  In  his  dispute  with  the  celebrated  Abelard,  he  ap.« 
pears  more  in  character.  At  a  council  called  at  Soissons 
in  1121,  Abelard  was]  charged  with  tritheispi,  and  with 
having  asserted,  that  God  the  father  was  alone  Almighty. 
He  was  ordered  to  burn  his  books,  and  to  recite  the  sym- 
bol of  Athanasius,  with  all  which  he  complied,  and  was  set 
at  liberty  :  but  it  was  long  after  this  before  Bernard  took 
?ny  particular  notice  of  Abelard,  having  either  heard  little 
of  the  controversy,  or  not  being  called  upon  to  deliver  hia 
sentiments.  Abelard,  however,  notwithstanding  his  re* 
tractations,  persevered  in  teaching  his  heresies;  and  it  be- 
came^ at  lengthy  impossible  for  his  errors  to  escape  the 


BEEN  A  R  a  IS 

observation  of  the  abbot  of  Clairval.  Having  stadied  the 
subject,  his  first  step  was  to  admonish  Abelard  in  a  private 
conference,  but  finding  that  that  had  no  effect,  he  opposed 
hioi  in  some  of  his  writings,  on  which  Abelaifd  challenged 
him  to  dispute  the  matter  at  a  solemn  assembly  which  was 
to  be  held  at  the  city  of  Sens  in  1140.  Bernard  was  at 
first  ynwilling  to  stibmit  these  important  doctrines  to  a  de* 
cision  which  was  rather  that  of  personal  talent,  than  of  de* 
liberative  wisdom,  and  would  have  declined  appearing,'  had 
not  his  friends  represented  that  his  absence  might  injure 
the  cause.  He  accordingly  met  his  antagonist,  and  began* 
to  open  the  case,  when  Abelard  very  unexpectedly  put  an 
end  to  the  matter  by  appealing  to  the  pope.  Bernard,  who 
afterwards  wrote  to  the  same  pope  an  account  of  Abelard's 
conduct,  very  justly  blames  him  for  appealing  from  judges 
whom  he  had  himself  chosen.  Notwithstanding  this  ap«* 
peal,  however,  Abelard's  sentiments  were  condemned,  and 
the  pope  ordered  his  books  to  be  burned,  and  himself  con^ 
fined  in  some  monastery ;  and  that  of  Cluni  being  chosen, 
he  remained  in  it  until  his  death  about  two  years  after. 

The  next  opponent  of  consequence  with  whom  St.  Ber- 
nard had  to  contend,  was  Gilbert  de  Porr6e,  bishop  of  Poio* 
tiers.  The  errors  attributed  to  Gilbert,  arose  from  cer- 
tain metaphysical  subtleties,  which  induced  him  to  deny, 
the  incarnation  of  the  divine  nature ;  but  these  refined  no- 
tions being  above  the  comprehension  of  St.  Bernard,  he 
opposed  them  with  great  vehemence  in  the  council  of  Pa^ 
ris,  1147,  and  in  that  of  Rheims,  1148:  but  in  this  latter 
council  Gilbert,  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  the  dispute^  of<« 
fered  to  submit  his  opinions  to  the  judgment  of  the  assemh 
biy,  and  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  by  whom  they  were  con«* 
demned.  Towards  the  end  of  his  days,  Bernard  was  cho« 
sen  to  be  mediator  between  the  people  of  Mentz  and  some 
neighbouring  princes,  whom  he  reconciled  with  his  usual 
skill.  On  his  return,  he  fell  sick  of  a  weakness  tin  his  sto« 
macb,  and  died  Aug.  20,  1153,  leaving  nearly  one  hun-» 
dred  and  sixty  monasteries  of  his  order^  founded  by  his 
care. 

Bernard  has  had  the  fate  of  most  of  the  eminent  charac* 
ters  during  the  early  ages  of  the  church,  to  be  excessively 
applauded  by  one  party,  and  as  much  and  as  unjustlyvde- 
preciated  by  the  other.  Of  his  austerities  and  his  mura* 
cles,  little  nptice  need  be  now  taken.  The  former  he  was 
himself  willing  to  allow  ^ere  unjuttifiable,  and  the  latter 


M  BERNARD. 

wrt  probably  tlie  forgeries  of  a  period  later  than  hn  owh. 
In  his  conduct  as  well  as  his  writings  we  see  many  intole« 
tant  prejudices  and  much  superstition ;  a  strong  predilec- 
tion for  the  Roman  hierarchy,  and  particularly  for  the  mo- 
oaitjc  character  On  the  other  t^ind^  although  his  learn« 
ing  was  but  moderate,  he  could  have  been  no  ordinary  man 
idio  attained  such  influence,  not  only  over  public  opinion^ 
but  over  men  of  the  highest  rank  and  power ;  and  he  has 
Wen  praised  by  the  proteatant  writers  for  deviating  in  many 
respects  from  the  dogmas  of  the  popish  religion,  and  main- 
taining some  of  those  essential  doctrines  which  afterwards 
0tfca0ipned  a  separation  between  the  two  churches.  He 
denied  transubstantiation,  allowed  of  only  two  sacraments, 
atid  placed  salvation  on  the  imputation  of  Christ's  righ- 
teousness, denying  all. works  of  supererogation,  &c.  As  to 
bis  talents,  one  of  his  nK>dern  biographers  allows  that  his 
style  was  lively  and  florid,  his  thoughts  noble  and  inge« 
nious,  bis  imagination  brilliant,  and  fertile  in  allegories. 
He  is. full  of  sensibility  and  tenderness,  first  gains  the  mind 
by  a  delicate  and  insinuating  manner,  then  touches  the 
hteirt  with  force  and  vehemence.  The  Holy  Scripture  was 
so  familiar  to  this  writer,  that  he  adopts  its  words  and  ea;« 
pressions  in  almost  every  period  and  every  phrase.  St 
Bernard's  sermons  are  consideled  as  ma^ter^-pieces  (^  sen- 
timent and  force.  Henry  de  Valois  preferred  them  to  all 
those  of  the  ancients,  whether  Greek  or  Latin.  It  appears 
that  he  preached  in.  French;  that  monks  who  were  not 
learned  assisted  at  his  conferences,  and  that  Latin  was  then 
not  understood  by  the  people*  His  Sermons  are  to  be 
seen  in  old  French  at  the  library  of  the  fathers  Fuillautines, 
me  St.  Honor6  at  Paris,  in  a  MS.  which  is  very  near  St 
Bemard^s  time;  and  the  council  of  Tours,  held  in  the  year 
8 IS,  ordered  the  bishops  when  they  dehvered  the  homi- 
lies of  the  fathers,  to  translate  them  from  Latin  into  iMn-* 
gws  rofimicey  that  the  people  might  understand  them; 
This  proves -that it  was  the  custom  to  preach  in  French 
long  before  the  time  of  St.  Bernard.  The  best  edition  of 
the  works  of  St.  Bernard,  who  is  regarded  as  the  last  of 
the  fathers,  is  that  of  Mabiilon,  .2  vols.  1690,  fol.  the  first 
gf  which  contains  such  pieces  as  are  undoubtedly  Bernard's; 
Those  in  the  second  volume  are  not  of  equal  authoritjr^ 
Besides. the  lives  pre&xed  to  this- edition  by  tariduis  writers, 
there  are  three  separate  lives,^  one  byiLemaistDe^  Paris^ 
1649,  8iro}  anodier  by  ViUefore>  i70#,  ^to^  aad«  third 


BERNARD.  n 

hy  Clemenoet,  1773,  4to»  which  is  usufltty  cotuidiered  a9 
tdie^tbiiteenth  Tolatne  of  the  litecayy  hiatoryr  of  Fcaace.  ^ 

BERNARD  of  MENTHON,  a  monk  in  the  tenth  cen** 
tiiry^  who  was  born  in  the  year  923,  in  the  neigMniurheod 
of  Anneoy,  of  one  of  the  most  illuitrioos  howes  of  SaFoy, 
vendered  hims^  not  more  celebrated  in  the  annais  of  Yeli* 
g^on  than  of  benevolence,  by  two  hospitable  establishmeoti 
which  he  formed,  and  where,  for  nine  hundred  y^ears,  tim« 
▼eilers  ha^e  found  reUef  from  the  dangers  of  passing  tbo 
Alps  in  the  severe  part  of  the  season.  Bernard,  iii» 
BQenced  by  pious  lnati1^e8  and  a  love  of  study,  refused  in 
his  early  years  a  proposal  of  marriage  to  which  his  panento 
attached  great  importance,  and  embraced  the  ecctoiaatieal 
life.  He  afterwards  was  promoted  to  be  archdeacon  of 
Aoste,  which  includes  the  places  of  official  and  grand^vacary 
and  consequtently  gave  him  considerable  weigbt  in  the  go** 
vernment  of  the  diocese.  This  he  employed  in  the  lauda- 
ble purposes  of  converting  the  wretched  inhabitants  of  the 
neighboaring'  mountains,  who  were  idolaters,  and  made 
very  great  progress  in  ameliorating  their  manners,  as  well 
as  reUgious  opinions.  Affected  at  the  same  time  with  tite 
dangers  and  hardships  sustained  by  the  French  and  G«»* 
man  pilgrims  in  travelling  to  Rome,  be  resolved  to  build 
on  the  summit  of  the  Alps  two^Aflsptifia,  or  hotels,  for  their 
reception,  one  on  mount  Joux  (nions  Jovis,  so  called  frsoin 
a  temple  of  Jupiter  erected  there),  and  the  other,  the  co- 
kumade  of  Jove,  so  called  from  a  colonnade  or  series  ci 
upright  stones  placed  on  the  snow  to  point  out  a  safe  track. 
These  places  of  reception-  were  afterwards  called,  and  are 
still  known  by  the  names  of  the  Great  and  Little  St.  Ber* 
nard.  The  care  of  them  the  founder  entrusted  to  regular 
caiwBs  of  the  order  of  St.  Augustin,  who  have  continued 
without  interruption  to  our  days,  each  succession  of  monks 
during  this  long  period,  zealously  performing* the  duties  of 
hospitality  according  to  the  benevolent  intentions  of  St. 
Bernavd.  The  situation  is  the  most  inhospitabb  isy  nature 
tbat  can  be  conceived  ;  e»en  in  spring,  the  cold  is  extreme; 
and  the  whole  is  covered  with  snow  or  ice,  whose  appear- 
ances are  vatied  only^  by  storms  and  douds.  Their  prin-^ 
dpal  monastery  on  Gveat  St.  Bernard,  is  probably  the 
highest  habitation  ill  Europe,  being  two  thousand  five  hun*» 

• 

*  Dupin. — MosbetiD.— Milner's  Church  Hiftory.^-Morert, — Saxii  Onomast. 
— CaTe.— Freytag^s  Adparatus  Ltttenrins.— Fabric.  Bibl.  M^d.  et  lofim.  I^tia. 
— BhUmt's  iJTM  of  the  Saiotd,  fco. 


78-  BERN  A  K  D, 

dred  toises  above  the  sea.  Morning  and  eremitg  their 
dogs,  trained  for  the  purpose,  trace  out  the  weary  and 
perishing  traveller,  and  by  their  means,  many  lives  are 
!taved,  the  utmost  care  being  taken  to  recover  them,  event 
i^hen  recovery  seems  most  improbable.  After  thus  esta-^ 
blishing  these  hospitia,  Bernard  returned  to  his  itinerant 
labours  among  the  neighbouring  countries  until  his  death. 
May  28,'  1008.  The  Boilandists  have  publishjed,  with  notes, 
two  authentic  lives  of  St.  Bernard  de  Menthon,  one  written 
by  Richard,  his  successor  in  the  archdeaconry  of  Aoste,  by 
which  it  appears  that  he  was  neither  a  Cistertian,  nor  of 
ftbe  regular  canons,  as  some  writers  have  asserted.  The 
two  hosfHtals  possessed  considerable  property  in  Savoy,  of 
which  they  were  deprived  afterwards,  but  the  establish- 
ment still  subsists,  and  the  kind  and  charitable  duties  of  it 
have  lately  been  performed  by  secular  priests.  ^ 

BERNARD  (Andr£W),  successively  poet  laureate  of 
Henry  VII.  and  VIII.  kings  of  England,  was  a  native  of 
Tholouse,  and  an  Augustine  monk.  By  an  instrument  in 
Rymer's  Foedera,  Vol.  XII.  p.  317,  pro  Poeta  laureate^ 
dated  1486,  the  king  grants  to  Andrew  Bernard,  poeta  lau- 
reatOj  which,  as  Mr.  Warton  remarks,  we  may  construe 
either  ^' the  laureated  poet,"  or  "a  poet  laureat,*'  a  sa- 
lary of  ten  marks,  until  he  can  obtain  some  equivalent  ap-^ 
pointment.  He  is  also  supposed  to  have  been  the  royal 
historiographer,  and  preceptor  in  grammar  to  prince  Ar- 
thur. All  the  pieces  now  to  be  found,  which  be  wrote  in 
tiie  character  of  poet  laureat,  are  in  Latin.  Among  them 
are,  an  **  Address  to  Henry  VIIL  for  the  most  auspicious 
beginning  of  the  tenth  year  of  his  reign,"  with  "  An  epi-. 
thalamium  on  the  Marriage  of  Francis  the  dauphin  of 
France  with  the  king's  daughter."  These  were  formerly 
in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Thomas  Martin  of  Palgrave,  the- 
antiquary  ;  «  A  New  Year's  gift  for  1615,"  in  fiie  library 
of  New  college,  Oxfor^i ;  and  "  Verses  wishing  pros-, 
perity  to  his  IN^jesty's  thirteenth  year,"  in  the  British  mu* 
seum.  He  has  also  left  some  Latin  hymns,  a  Latin  life  of 
St.  Andrew,  and  many  Latin  prose  pieces,  which  he  wrote 
as  historiographer  to  both  monarcbs,  particularly  a  ^^  Chro-: 
nicle  of  the  life  and  achievements  of  Henry  VII.  to  the 
taking  of  Perkin  Warbeck,"  and  other  historical  commen- 
taries on  the  reign  of  that  king^,  which  are  all  in  the  Cot- 

1  Biog.  Unirerselle;-*Dict.  Hist. 


E  £  a  N  A  R  D.  79 

toiiian  hbnu-yr    Hfe  was  living  iii  1522,  but  is  not  men- 
lioned  by  Bale,  Pits*,  or  Tanner.  ^ 

BERNARD  (Catharine),  of  the  academy  of  the  Ricov- 
rati  of  Padua,  was  born  at  Rouen,  and  died  at  Paris  in 
17 12,  She  acquired  some  poetical  fame,  her  works  being 
'several  times  crowned  by  the  French  academy,  and  that  of 
the  Jeux  fioraux.  Two  of  her  tragedies  were  represented 
9ttbe  French  theatre,  <^  Laodamia,"  in  1689,  and  ^^  Bru- 
tus'^ in  1690.  It  is  thought*  she  composed  these  pieces 
conjointly  with  Fontenelle  and  the  two  Corneilk's,  who 
were  her  relations.  She  wrote  also  some  other  poems  with 
ease  and  delicacy.  Some  distinction  is  set  upon  her  po« 
etical  petition,  which  has  some  wit,  to  Louis  XIV.  to  ask 
for  the  200  crowns,  the  annual  gratification  given  her  by 
that  prince ;  it  is  inserted  in  the  ^'  Recueil  de  vers  choisi» 
du  pere  Boubours.- '  She  discontinued  writing  for  th€^ 
theatre  at  the  instance  of  madame  de  Pont-Chartrain,  who 
gave  her  a  pension.  She  even  suppressed  several  little 
pieces,  which  might  have  given  a  bad  impression  of  her 
manners  and  religion^  Three  romances  are  likewise  as- 
cribed to  her:  "  The  count  d'Amboise,"  in  12mo  ;  "  The 
miseries  of  Love;*'  and  "  Ines  of  Cordova,"  12mo.  Some 
of  the  journalists  have  attributed  to  mademoiselle  Bernard 
the  account  of  the  isle  of  Borneo,  and  others  to  Fontenelle. 
'' It  may  .be  doubted,"  says  the  abb6  Trublet,  ^<  whether 
it  be  her& ;  and  it  is  to  be  wished  that  it  is  not.*'  It  is  ai) 
allegorical  account  of  the  religious  disputes  of  that  period. 
Beauchamps  says  she  wrote  the  tragedy  of  ^^Bradamante,** 
represented  in  1695,  which  is  certainly  the  same  with  that  in 
the  workft  of  Thomas  Corneille.  Her  Eloge  is  in  the  ^'  His* 
toire  du  Theatre  Franjois.*'  * 

BERNARD  (Charles),  king*s  counsellor,  and  histo- 
riographer of  France,  was  born  at  Paris  Dec.  25,  1S7I, 
and  died  in  1640.  The  chief  part:  of  bis  labours  were  di» 
recied  to  the  history  o£  France ;  on  which  he  wrote,  l.^^La 
Conjunction  des  mers,'*  .on  the  junction  of  the  ocean  with 
the  Mediterranean  by  the  Burgundy  canal,  1613,  4to.  2. 
^'  Discours  surPetat  des  Finances,"  Paris,  1614,  4to.  3. 
*^  Histoire:  des.  guerres  de  Louis  XIII.  centre  les  religion- 
naires  rebelles,'*  ibid.  ,1633,  fol.  ^   Of  this  only  about  three 

dozen  copies  if  ere  printed,  but  the  whole  was  afterwards 

■  .  ■  "•  ■  " 

*  Warton's  Hut  oF  Poetry*  vol.  II.  p.  132— Malone's  lAU  of  Drsrden,  toL  I. 
8  Diet  Hill,— Biog.  Urilv«rsclle.— Moreri. 


$9  BERNARD. 

iuserted  in  bis  history  of  Louis  XIII.  4.  ^'  Csrte  g^nealo^ 
gique  de  la  royale  maison  de  Bourbon,  avec  des  Elogei 
des  princes,  &c,"  ibid.  1634,  foi.  and  1646,  under  the  title 
9f  ^^  Genealogie  de  la  inaisoii  de  Bourbon."  5.  ^*  Hiatoire 
de  Louis  XIII.  jusqu'a.  la  guerre  declare  eontre  les  Efi« 
pagnols,  avec  un  Discours  sur  la  vie  de  I'auteur,'^  ibid« 
)  6i6,  fol.  Thi«  account  of  the  life  of  the  author  was  writ^ 
ten  by  Charles  Sorel,  hk  nephew,  who  also  continued  the 
work  down  to  1643.  The  abbe  de  Gendre  says  that  Ber« 
Hard  is  deiiciejit  both  in  style  and  taste^  dealing  too  much 
in  trifles  and  digressions,  and  too  prolix  in  his  descrip* 
tions  of  work/B  of  architecture,  as  well  as  in  eoaimon-plac9 
leflections.  He  allows,  however,  that  he  gives  a  good  ac- 
count of  fuiUtary  affairs,  and  developes  ;wtth  great  skill  the 
intrigues  ^f  the  court,  with  which  he  had  a  good  oppoftu^ 
nity  of  being  acquainted.  ^ 

JttERNARD  <Clau0£),  called  Father  Bernard,  or  the 
Poor  Pri^t,  was  horn  December  26,  1 5d8,  at  Dijon,  son 
of  Stephen  Bernard,  lieut-geu.  of  Cbilons^sur^Saone.  He 
had  a  livdly  imagination  and  wit^  which,,  joined  to  a  jovial 
temper,  adade  hiOL  a  weLcome  guest  in  all  gay"  companies^ 
Going  to  Paris  with  M.  de  Bellegarde,  governor  of  D^on^ 
he  gave  hiodself  up  to  public  amusements,  and  aU  the  va- 
nities of  the  ^e,  making  it  hia  businc^ss  to  act  comedies  foir 
the  diversion  of  such  persons  of  quality  as  he  was  ac- 
quainted with  ;  but  jat  length  he  grew  disgusted  with  the 
world,  and  devoted  himself  wholly  to  relieving  and  tqm^ 
forting  the  poor.  He  assisted  them  by  his  charities  and 
f^hortatipus  to  the  end  c^  his  days,  with  incoredible  fervour, 
stopping  ami  humbhog  himself  to  do  the  meanest  ofiicea 
for  them.  Father  Bernard  having  persisted  in  refusing  all 
the  benefices  .offered  him  by  the  court,  cardinal  Richelieu 
told  him  pne  day,  that  he  absolutely  insisted  on  his  askings 
him  £pr  spjfnething,  and  left  him  alone  to  consider  of  it. 
When  the  qardioal  returned  half  an  hour  after,  Bernard 
Qaid,  ^^  Alonseigneur,  after  much  study,  I  have  at  last 
found  put  a  favour  to  ask  of  yau ;  When  I  attend  any  suf- 
ferers to  the  gibbet  to  assist  them  in  their  last  moments, 
we  are  carried  in  a  cart  with  so  bad  a  bottom,  th&t  we  are' 
^very  moment  in  danger  of  falling  to  the  ground.  Be 
pleased^  therefore,  JMonseigneur,  to  order  that  some  bet-^ 
ter  boards  may  be  put  to  the  cart'*     Cardinal  Richelieu 

>  Biof  •  UaiTenelle^-^Le  Umg'B  Bibl.  Hist,  de  la  Fnncer 


BERNARD;  84 

laughed  heattily  at  this  request,  and  gave  orders  directly 
ibftt  the  cart  should  be  thoroughly  repaired.  Father  Ber« 
oard  was  ever  ready  to  assist  the  unhappy  by  his  good  of- 
6ces,  for  which  purpose  he  one  day  presented  a  petition  to 
a  nobleman  in  place,  who  being  of  a  very  hasty  temper^ 
flew  into  a  violent  passion,  and  said  a  thousand  injurious 
things  of  the  person  for  whom  the  priest  interested  bimselfi 
but  Bernard  still  persisted  in  his  request ;  at  which  the  no-* 
bleman  was  at  last  so  irritated,  'that  he  gave  him  a  box  on 
the  ear.  Bernard  immediately  fell  a\  his  feet,  and,  pre- 
senting the  other  ear,  said,  *'  Give  me  a  good  blow  on 
this  also,  my  lord,  and  grant  my  petition."  The  noble- 
man was  so  aifected  by  this  apparent  humility  as  to  grant 
Bernard's  request.  He  died  March  23,  164K  The  French 
clergy  had  such  a  veneration  for  hi  ft)  as  often  to  solicit  that 
he  might  be  enrolled  in  the  calendar  of  saints.  In  1639 
he  founded  the  school  of  the  Thirty-three,  so  called  from 
the  number  of  years  our  Saviour  passed  on  earth,  and  a 
very  excellent  seminary.  Immediately  after  his  death  ap- 
peared "  Le  Testament  du  reverend  pere  Bernard,  et  ses 
pens€es  pieuses,'*  Paris,  1641,  8vo,  and  "  Le  Recit  dea 
choses  arriv^es  k  la  mort  du  rev.  pere  Bernard,"  same  year. 
The  abb^  Papillon  also  quotes  a  work  entitled  **  Entretiena 
pendant  sa  demiere  maladie."  His  life  was  written  by  se- 
veral authors,  by  LegauflFre,  Giry,  de  la  Serre,  Gerson, 
and  Lempereur  the  Jesuit.  This  last,  which  was  published 
at  Paris,  1708,  12mo,  is  too  full  of  visions,  revelations,  and 
miracles,  to  afford  any  just  idea  of  Bernard.  ^ 

BERNARD  (Edward),  a  learned  critic  and  astronomer, 
was  born  at  Perry  St  Paul,  commonly  called  Pauler*s  Perry, 
near  Towccster  in  Northamptonshire,  the  2d  of  May  1638, 
He  received  some  part  of  his  education  at  Northampton  ; 
but  his  father  dying  when  he  was  very  young,  his  mother 
sent  hitti  to  an  uncle  in  London,  who  entered  him  at  Mer- 
cbant-taylors-school,  in  1648  :  here  he  continued  tilljune 
1655,  when  he  was  elected  scholar  of  St.  John's  college  in 
Oxford,  of  which  also  he  became  afterwards  fellow.  Du« 
ring  his  stay  at  school,  he  had  accumulated  an  uncommon 
fund  of  classical  learning,  so  that  when  he  went  to  the  uni**^ 
versity,  he  was  a  great  master  of  the  Greek  and  Latm 
tongues,  and  not  unacquainted  with  the  Hebrew.  He  had 
Also  previously  acquirea  a  good  Latin  style,  could  compose 

*  tvfocai.'^h'iog.  Unir.— MarcbaatU 

Vol.  V.  G 


82  BERNARD. 

verses  weHy  and  often  used  to  divert  himself  with  writing 
epigrams,  hut  he  quitted  these  juvenile  employments  when 
at  the  university,  and  appUed  himself  to  history,  philology, 
and  philosophy,  and  made  himself  master  of  the  Hebrew, 
Syriac,  Arabic,  and  Coptic.     He  applied  himself  next  to 
the  mathematics,  under  the  famous  Dr.  J.  Wallis^    He 
took  the  degree  of  B.  A.  Feb.  the  12th,  1659  ;  that  of  mas- 
ter, April  16,  1662  ;  and  that  of  B.  D.  June  9,  1668.    De- 
cember following  he  went  to  Leyden,  to  consult  several 
Oriental  manuscripts  left  to  that  university  by  Joseph  Sca- 
liger  and  Levinus  Warner,  and  especially  the  5th,  6th,  and 
7th   books   of  ApoUonius  PergaBus's   conic   sections;  the 
Greek  text  of  which  is  lost,  but  which  are  preserved  in  the 
Arabic  version  of  that  author.     This  version   had  been 
brought  from  the  East  by  James  Golius,  and  was  in  the 
possession  of  his  executor,  who,  pleased  that  Mr.  Bernard's 
chief  design  in  coniing  to  Holland  was  to  examine  this  ma- 
nuscript, allowed  him  the  free  use  of  it.     He  accordingly 
transcribed  these  three  books,  with  the  diagrams,  intend- 
ing to  publish  them  at  Oxford,  with  a  Latin  version,  and 
proper  commentaries  ;  but  was  prevented  from  completing 
this  design.     Abraham  Echellensis  had  published  a  Latin 
translation  of  these  books  in  1661,  and  Christianus  Ravius 
gave  another  in  1669  :  but  Dr.  Smith  remarks,  that  these 
two  ^authors,  though  well  skilled  in  the  Arabic  language, 
were  entirely  ignorant  of  the  mathematics,  which  made  it 
regretted  that  Golius  died  while  he  was  preparing  that 
work  fdr  the^press ;  and  that  Mr.  Bernard,  who  understood 
both  the  language  and  the  subject,  and  was  furnished  with 
all  the  proper  helps  for  such  a  design,  was  abandoned  by 
his  friends,  though  they  had  before  urged  him  to  under* 
take  it.     It  was,  however,  at  last  published  by  Dr.  Halley 
in  1710. 

At  his  return  to  Oxford,  be  examined  and  collated  the 
most  valuable  inanuscripts  in  the  Bodleian  library  ;  which 
induced  those  who  published  ancient  authors,  to  apply  to 
him  for  observations  or  emendations,  which  he  readily  im- 
parted, and  by  this  means  became  engaged  in  a  very  ex- 
tensive correspondence  with  the  learned  in  most  countries. 
In  1669,  the  celebrated  Christopher  Wren,  Saviiian  pro- 
fessor of  astronomy  at  Oxford,  having  been  appointed  sur- 
veyor-general of  his  majesty's  works,  and  being  much  de- 
tained at  London  by  this  employment,  obtained  leave  to 
j^ame  a  deputy  at  Oxford^  and  pitched  upon  Mr.  Bernard^ 


B  E  R  ]!if  A  R  D.  83 

which  obliged  the  latter  to  confine  his  application  more 
particularly  to  the  study  of  astronomy.  In  1 672,  the  mas- 
ter and  fellows  bf  his  college  presented  him  to  the  rectory 
of  Cbeame  in  Surrey ;  and  February  following,  Dr.  Peter 
Mews>  the  master,  being  advanced  to  the  bishopric  of  Bath 
and  Wells,  appointed  Mr.  Bernard  one  of  his  chaplains* 
But  the  following  xyear  he  quitted  all  views  of  preferment, 
by  accepting  the  Savilian  professorship  of  astronomy,  va- 
cant by  the  resignation  of  sir  Christopher  Wren  ;  for,  by 
the  statutes  of  the  founder,  sir  Henry  Savile,  the  profes** 
sors  are  not  allowed  to  hold  any  other  office  either  eccle« 
siastical  or  civil. 

About  this  time  a  scheme  was  set  on  foot  at  Oxford,  of 
collecting  and  publishing  the  ancient  mathematicians.  Mr. 
Bernard,  who  had  first  formed  the  project,  collected  all 
tiie  books  published  on  that  subject  since  the  invention  of 
printing,  and  all  the  M88.  he  could  discover  in  the  Bod- 
leian and  Savilian  libraries,  which  he  arranged  in  order  of 
time,  and  according  to  the  matter  they  contained.  Of  this 
he  drew  up  a  synopsis  or  view,  which  he  presented  to 
bishop  Fell,  a  great  encourager  of  the  undertaking.  This 
was  published  by  his  biographer,  Dr.  Thomas  Smith,  at 
the  end  of  his  life.  As  a  specimen,  Mr.  Bernard  published 
also  a'few  sheets  of  Euclid,  in  folio,  containing  the  Greek 
text,  and  a  Latin  version,  with  Proclus's  commentary  in 
Greek  and  Latin,  and  learned  scholia  and  corollaries.  H« 
undertook  also  an  edition  of  the  *^  Parva  syntax  is  Alexan- 
drine;*' in  which,  besides  Euclid,  are  contained  the  small 
treatises  of  Theodosius,  Autoiycus,  -  Menelaus,  Aristarchus, 
and  Hipsicles  :  but  it  was  never  published.  In  1676,  he 
was  sent  to  France  by  Charles  IL  to  be  tutor  to  the  dukes 
of  Grafton  and  Northumberlajid,  natural  sons  of  the  king, 
by  the  duchess  of  Cleveland,  with  whom  they  then  lived 
at  Paris  'j  but  the  plainness^  and  simplicity  of  his  manners 
nbt  suiting  the  gaiety  of  the  duchess's  family,  he  continued 
with  them  only  one  year,  when  he  returned  to  Oxford : 
having  reaped  however  the  advantage,  during  his  stay  at  * 
Paris,  of  becoming  acquainted  with  most  of  the  learned 
men  in  that  city,  particularly  Justel,  Huet,  MabiHon, 
Quesnel,  Dacier,  Renaudot,  and  others. 

Upon  his  return  to  the  university,  he  applied  himself  to 
his' former  studies*,  and  though,  in  conformity  to  the  obli- 
gation of  his  professorship,  he  devoted  the  greatest  part  of 
his  time  to  mathematics,  yet  hie  inclination  was  now  mor« 

«  2 


14  BERNARD. 

to  history,  chronology,  and  antiquities.     He  undertook  ft 
uew  edition  of  Josephus,  but  it  was  never  completed.    The 
liistory  of  this  undertaking  is  somewhat  curious.     Several 
years  before,  bishop  Fell  had  resolved,  with  our  author's 
assistance,  to  print  at  the  theatre  at  Oxford  a  new  edition 
of  Josephus,  more  correct  than  any  of  the  former.     But, 
either  for  want  of  proper  means  to  complete  that  work^  or 
in  expectation  of  one  promised  by  the  learned  Andrew  Bo- 
sius,  this  design  was  laid  aside.    Upon  the  death  of  Bosius^ 
i^  was  resumed  again  ;  and  Mr.  Bernard  collected  all  the 
manuscripts  he  could  procure  out  of  the  libraries  of  Great^ 
Britain,  both  of  the  Greek  text  and  Epiphanius's  Latin, 
translation,  and  purchased  Bosius^s  valuable  papers  of  his 
executors  at  a  great  price.   Then  he  published  a  specimeu 
of  his  edition  of  Josephus,  and  wrote  great  numbers  of 
letters  to  his  learned  friends  in  France,  Holland,  Germany, 
and  other  countries,  to  desire  their  assistance  in  that  work. 
He  laboured  in  it  a  good  while  with  the  utmost  vigour  and 
resolution,  though  his  constitution  was  much  broken  by  in-, 
tense  application.    But  this  noble  undertakmg  was  left  un<^ 
finished,  for  these  two  reasons.     First,  many  persons  com- 
plained of  Epiphauius^s  translation,;  because  it  was  defec- 
tive, and  not  answerable  to  the  original  in  many  places,  and 
required  a  new  version,  or  at  least  to  have  that  of  Geieniu» 
^revised  and  corrected.     Secondly,  objections  were  made  to 
the  heap  of  various  readings  that  were  to  be  introduced 
in  this  edition,  and  with  the  length  of  the  commentaries, 
ip  which  whole  dissertations  were  inserted  without  any  ap-» 
parent  necessity,  that  ought  to  have  been  placed  at  the 
end  of  the  work,  or  printed  by  themselves.     These  thinga 
occasioning  a  contest  between  Mr.  Bernard  and  the  cura- 
tors of  the  Oxford  press,  the  printing  of  it  was  interrupted  tt 
>and  at  last  the  purpose  of  having  it  done  at  the  expence  of 
the  university,  was  defeated  by  the  death  of  bishop  Fell* 
However,  about  six  or  seven  years  after,  Mr.  Bernard  was 
prevailed  upon  by  three  booksellers  of  Oxfor<l  to  resume 
the  work,  and  to  publish  it  in  a  less  form  upon  the  model 
of  his  specimen  ;  but  they  not  being  able  to  bear  the  ex-c 
pence  of  it,  on  account  of  the  war,  after  a  few  sheets  were 
printed  off,  desisted  from  their  undertaking.     These  re» 
.peated  discouragements  hindered  the  learned  author  from 
proceeding  further  than  the  four  first  books,  and  part  of 
the,  fifth,  of  the  Jewish  Antiquities ;  and  the  first  book^ 
and  part  of  th^  second»  of  t\m  DestrucUon  of  Jerusalem  f 


BERNARD*  M 

which  were  printed  at  the  Theatre  at  Oxford  in  1686  and 
1687,  and  published  in  1700,  foL  In  the  notes,  the  leam«^ 
'  ed  author  shews  himself  an  universal  scholar  and  discern^ 
ing  critic ;  and  appears  to  have  been  master  of  mo&t  of  the 
Oriental  learning  and  languages.  These  notes  have  been 
incorporated  into  Havercamp's  edition. 

In  168:^,  he  went  again  to  Leyden,  to  be  present  at  the- 
sale  of  Nicholas  Heinsius^s  library;  where  he  purchased^ 
at  a  great  price,  several  of  the  classical  authors,  that  bad 
been  either  collated  with  manuscripts,  or  illustrated  with 
the  original  notes  of  Joseph  Scaliger,  Bonaventure  Vul- 
canius,  the  two  Heinsiuses,  and  other  celebrated  critics^ 
Here  he  renewed  his  acquaintance  with  several  persons  of 
eminent  learning;  particularly  Gr«vius,  Spanheim,    Tri* 
glandius,  Gronovius,  Perizonius,  Ryckius,  Gallaeus,  Rul«- 
vs,  and  especially  Nicholas  Witsen,  burgomaster  of  Am* 
sterdam,  ivbo   presented  him   with  a  Coptic   dictionary, 
brought   from   Egypt  by  Theodore  Petraeus  of  Holsatia ; 
and  afterwards  transmitted  to  him  in  1686,  the  Coptic  and 
£thiopic  types  made  of  iron,  for  the  use  of  the  printing-- 
press  at  Oxford.     With  such  civilities  he  was  so  much 
pleased,  and  especially  with  the  opportunities  he  had  of 
making  improvements  in  Oriental  learning,  that  he  would 
have  settled  at  Leyden,  if  he  could  have  been  chosen  pro- 
fessor of  the  Oriental  languages  in  that  university,  but  not 
being  able  to  compass  this,  he  returned  to  Oxford.     He 
began  now  to  be  tired  of  astronomy,  and  his  health  de- 
clining, he  was  desirous  to  resign ;  but  no  other  prefermeiit 
offering,  he  was  obliged  to  hold  his  professorship  some 
years  longer  than  he  intended;  in  1684  he  took  his  de« 
gree  of  D.  D.  and  in  1691,  being  presented  to  the  rectory 
of  Brightwell  in  Berkshire,  he  quitted  his  professorship^ 
and  was  succeeded  by  David  Gregory,  professor  of  mathe- 
matics at  Edinburgh.     In  1692,  he  was  employed  in  draw- 
ing up  a  catalogue  of  the  manuscripts  in  Great  Britain  and 
Irdand,  which  was  published  at  Oxford  1697,  foL     Dr. 
Bernard's  shar^  in  this  undertaking  was  the  drawing  up  m 
most  useful  and  complete  alphabetical  Index ;  to  which  he 
prefixed  this  title,   ^^  Librorum  manuscriptorum   Magnsb 
Britanniae  et  Hibernise,  atqtie  externarum  aliquot  BibKo- 
thecarum  Index  secundum  alphabetum   Edwardus  Ber* 
narduB  construxit  Oxonii'*     In  this  Index  he  mentions  a 
great  number  of  valuable  Greek  manuscripts,  which  are  te 
be  found  in  several  foreign  libraries^  as  weU  as  our  pwn; 


«€  BERNARD. 

Towards  the  latter  end  of  his  life,  he  was  much  afflicted 
with  the  stone,  yet,  notwithstanding  this  and  other  infir- 
imties,  he  took  a  third  voyage  to  Holland,  to  attend  the 
$ale  of  Golius's  manuscripts.  After  six  or  seven  weeks  ab- 
sence, he  returned  to  London,  and  from  thence  to  Oxford. 
There  he  fell  into  a  languishing  consumption,  which  put 
an  end  to  his  life,  Jan.  12,  1696,  before  he  was  quite 
fifty-nine  years  of  age.  Four  days  after,  he  was  interred 
in  St.  John's  chapel,  where  a  monument  of  white  marble 
was  soon,  erected  for  him  by  his  widow,  to  whom  he  had 
been  married  only  three  years.  In  the  middle  of  it  there 
is  the  form  of  an  Heart  carved,  circumscribed  with  these 
words,  according  to  his  own  direction  a  little  before  he 
died,  HABEMUS  COR  BERNARDI :  and  underneath 
E.  B,  S.  T.  P.  Obiit  Jan.  12,  1696.  The  same  is  also  re- 
peated on  a  small  square  marble,  under  which  he  was 
buried.  As  to  this  learned  man^s  character.  Dr.  Smithy 
who  knew  him  well,  gives  him  a  very  great  one.  "  He 
was  (says  he)  pf  a  miid  disposition,  averse  to  wrangling 
and  disputes ;  and  if  by  chance  or  otherwise  he  happened 
to  be  present  where  contests  ran  high,  he  would  deliver 
his  opinion  with  great  candour  and  modesty,  and  in  few 
words,  but  entirely  to  the  purpose.  He  was  a  candid 
judge  of  other  men's  performances ;  not  too  censorious 
even  on  trifling  books,  if  they,  contained  nothing  contrary 
to  good  manners,  virtue,  or  religion ;  and  U)  those  which 
displayed  wit,  learning,  or  good  sense,  none  gave  more 
ready  and  more  ample  praise.  Though  he  was  a  true  soa 
£>f  the  Church  of  England,  yet  he  judged  favourably  and 
charitably  of  dissenters  of  all  denominations.  His  piety 
imd  prudence  never  suffered  him  to  be  hurried  away  by  a^ 
immoderate  ^eal,  in  declaiming  against  the  errors  of  others. 
His  piety  was  sincere  and  unaffected,  and  his  devotions 
both  in  public  and  private  very  regular  and  exemplary* 
Of  his  great  and  extensive  learning,  the  works  he  pub* 
lished,  and  the  manuscripts  he  has  left,  are  a  sufficient  evi- 
dence." This  character  is  supported  by  the  concurring 
evidence  of  all  his  learned  contemporaries.  The  works 
he  published  were :  1.  ^'  Tables  of  the  longitudes  and  lati« 
tudes  of  the  fixed  Stars."  2.  «  The  Obliquity  of  the  Eclip- 
tic  from  the  observations  of  the  ancients,  in  Latin.? 
i.  **  A  Latin  letter  to  Mr.  John  Flamsteed,  containing  ob-p 
servations  on  the  Eclipse  of  the  Sun,  July  2,  1684,  at 

Oxford.''    All  these  are  in  the  Philospphical  Transacuoni^ 


BERNARD.  87 

4.  "  A  treatise  of  the  ancient  Weights  and  Measures,'^ 
printed  first  at  the  end  of  Dr.  Edward  Pocock's  Commen- 
tary on  Hosea,  Oxford,  1685,  fol. ;  and  afterwards  reprinted 
in  Latin,  wi£h  very  great  additions  and  alterations,  under 
this  title,  "  De  mensuris  &  ponderibus  antiquis,  libri  tres," 
Oxon.  1688,  8vo.  i.  *' Private  Devotions,  with  a  briefs 
explication  of  the  Ten  Commandments,"  Oxford,  1689, 
12mo.  6.  **  Orb  is  eruditi  Literatura  a  charactere  Sama-i 
ritico  deducta ;''  printed  at  Oxford  from  a  copper-plate, 
on  one  side  of  a  broad  sheet  of  paper :  containing  at  oiie 
view,  the  different  forms  of  letters  used  by  the  Phoenicians, 
Samaritans,  Jews^  Syrians,  Arabs,  Persians,  Bracbmans, 
and  other  Indian  philosophers,  Malabarians,  Greeks, 
Cophts,  Russians,  Sclavonians,  ^Ethiopians,  Francs,  Saxons^ 
Goths,  &c.  all  collected  from  ancient  inscriptions,  coins, 
and  manuscripts  :  together  with  the  abbreviations  used  by 
the  Greeks,  physicians,  mathematicians,  and  chymist& 
7,  "  Etymologicum  Britannicum,  or  derivations  of  th« 
British  and  English  words  from  the  Russian,  Sclavonian, 
Persian,  and  Armenian  languages ;  printed  at  the  end  of 
Dr.  Hickes^s  Grammatica  Anglo- Saxonica  &  Moeso-Got- 
thica,"  Oxoh.  1689,  4to.  8.  He  'edited  Mr.  William 
Guise's  ^*  Misn^  pars  priiha,  ordinis  primi  Zeraim  tituli 
septem,"  Oxon.  1690,  4to.  9.  **  Chronoldgise  l^amaritanas 
Synopsis,''  in  two  tables;  the  first  containing  the  most 
famous  epochas,  and  remarkable  events,  from  the  begin-> 
ning  of  the  world;  the  second  a  catalogue  of  the  Samari- 
tan High  Priests  from  Aaron,  published  in  the  **  Acta  Eru- 
ditorum  Lipsiensia,"  April  1691,  p.  167,  &c.  He  alsQ 
was  author  of  the  following :  10.  "  NotaB  iii  fragmentum 
Seguierianum  Stephani  Byzantini;"  in  the  library  of  mon- 
sieur Seguier,  chaneellbr  of  Fratice :  part  of  which,  relating 
to  Dodone,  were  published  by  Gronovius,  at  the  end  of 
his  "  Ekercitationes  de  Dodone,"  Leyden,  1681.  M.  "  Ad- 
notationes  in  Epistolam  S.  Barnabas,"  published  in  bishop 
Fell's  edition  of  that  author,  Oxon.  1685,  8vo.  12.  **  Short 
notes,  in  Greek  and  Latin,  upon  Cotelerius's  edition  of 
the  Apostolical  Fathers,  printed  in  the  Amsterdam  edition 
of  them.  13,  "  Veterum  testimonia  de  Versionie  LXXII 
interpf  etum,"  printed  at  the  end  of  Aristeae  Historia  LXXII 
interpretum,  published  by  Dr.  Henry  Aldrich,  Oxori. 
1692,  8vo.  14.  He  translated  into  Latin,  the  letters  of 
the  Samaritans,  which  Dr.  R.  Huntington  procuired  them 
to  write  to  their  brethren,  the  Jews  in  England,  in  16T3| 


*«  BERNARD. 

while  he  was  at  Sicbem.  Dr.  Smith  having  obtained  m 
copy  of  this  translation,  gave  it  to  the  learned  Job  LudoU 
ftis,  when  he  was  in  England,  who  published  it  in  the  col- 
lection of  Samaritan  Epistles,  written  to  himself  and  other 
Jearned  men.  Besides  these  works,  he  also  assisted  several 
learned  men  in  their  editions  of  books,  and  collated  manu- 
scripts for  them  ;  and  left  behind  him  in  manuscript  many 
books  of  his  own  composition,  with  very  large  collections^ 
which,  together  with  the  books  enriched  in  the  margin 
with  the  notes  of  the  most  learned  men,  and  collected  by 
him  in  France  and  Holland,  were  purchased  by  the  cura- 
tors of  the  Bodleian  library,  for  the  sum  of  two  hundred 
pounds.  They  likewise  bought  a  considerable  number  of 
curious  and  valuable  books  out  of  his  library,  which  wero 
wanting  in  the  Bodleian,  for  which  they  paid  one  hundred 
ftnd  forty  pounds.  The  rest  of  his  books  were  sold  by 
auction,  all  oien  of  letters  striving  to  purchase  those  which 
kad  any  observations  of  Dr.  Bernard's  own  hand.  ^ 

BERNARD  (Sir  Francis),  hart,  descended  from  an  aiv 
eient  and  respectable  family  originally  of  Yorkshire,  was 
educated  at  Westminster  school,  where  in  1725,  he  wa« 
elected  into  the  college;  and  in  1729,  became  a  student 
of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  and  took  his  master's  degree  in 
1736.  From  Oxford  he  removed  to  the  Middle  Temple, 
of  which  society  he  was  afterwards  a  bencher.  He  prac- 
tised at  the  bar  some  years ;  and,  going  the  Midland  cir- 
cuit, was  elected  steward  of  the  city  of  Lincoln,  and  also 
ofEciated  as  recorder  at  Boston  in  that  circuit.  In  Febru- 
ary, 1758,  he  was  appointed  governor  of  New  Jersey  ;  and 
in  January,  17(50,  governor  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  Of  this 
last  province  he  continued  governor  ten  years,  receiving, 
during  that  time,  the  repeated  and  uniform  approbation  of 
the  crown,  amid  many  successive  changes  of  the  ministry 
at  hdfne;  and  likewise  preserving  the  confidence  and  good 
opinion  of  all  ranks  in  the  province,  until  the  differences 
arising  between  the  two  countries,  and  the  opposition 
given  to  the  orders  sent  from  Great  Britain,  made  it  a 
part  of  bis  official  duty  to  take  decisive  measures  for  sup- 
porting the  authority  of  government ;  which,  although  ge- 
nerally approved  in  this  country,  could  not  fail,  on  the 
spot,  to  weaken  and  gradually  undermine  the  degree  of 
popularity  he  before  enjoyed.     His  conduct^  however,  in 

>  Bbg.  Brit,  from  his  Life  by  Dr.  Thomas  Smith,  publi8h«d  with  bishop 
Huiitiogtoa*s  Letters,  8vo.  1704. 


BERNARD.  M 

that  trying  and  difficult  situation  gave  such  entire  satisfac- 
tion to  liis  majesty^  tiiat  lie  was  advanced  while  abroad, 
and  without  any  sohcitatiou,  to  the  dignity  of  a  bai'ouety 
in  1769,  and  \yas  denominated  of  Netdeham,  the  present 
family  estate  near  Lincoln. 

The  favourable  sentiments  which  the  province  enter- 
tained for  sir  Francis  before  the  comrQversy  took  place  be-. 
tween  Great  Britain  and  the  colonies,  are  shown  by  the 
expressions  of  acknowledgement  and  aifection  in  their  se<*. 
veral  addresses  to  him  up  to  that  period,  and  the  constant 
approbation  with  which  he  was  honoured  by  his  majesty,, 
appears  from  the  dispatches  of  the  different  secretaries  of 
state  laid  before  the  House  of  Commons,  atid  printed  by 
their  order.  His  "  Case  before  the.  Privy  Council,"  printed 
in  1770;  and  his  "Select  Letters,"^  in  1774;  explain  in  a 
very  satisfactory  manner  his  conduct  during  the  progress 
of  the  American  revolution.  After  the  war  commenced, 
sir  Francis  returned  to  England,  and  resided  mostly  at 
Nether  Wichendon,  or  Aylesbury  in  Buckinghamshire. 
He  died  June  16,  1779,  leaving  a  numerous  family,  of 
whom  his  third  son,  sir  Thomas,  the  present  baronet,  chan- 
cellor of  the  diocese  of  Durham,  i&  well  known  as  a  scholar 
and  philanthropist.  In  1752,  sir  Francis,  who  cultivated 
a  highly  classical  taste,  published  "  Antonii  Alsopi  Odarum 
libri  duo,"  4to.  (See  Alsoh),  dedicated  in  an  elegant,  copy 
of  verses  to  Thomas  duke  of  Newcastle.  V 

BERNARD  (Dr.  Francis),  was  chief  physician  to  king 
James  II.  He  was  a  man  of  learning,  and  what  is  now  termed 
an  able  bibliographer.  His  private  collection  of  books, 
which  were  scarce  and  curious,  sold  for  upwards  of  1600/. 
in  169S;  a  large  sum  at  that  time,  when  the  passion  for 
rare  books  was  much  more  moderate  than  now.  He  died 
Feb.  9,  1697,  aged  69  years.  .Mr.  Charles  Bernard,  bro-t 
ther  to  Francis,  and  surgeon  to  the  princess  Anne,  daugh- 
ter of  king  James,  had  also  a  curious  library,  which  was 
sold  by  auction  in  1711.  The  ^'  Spaccio  deila  Bestia  tri- 
omfante,^'  by  Jordano  Bruno,  an  Italian  atheist,  which  is 
md  in  number  389  of  the  Spectator  to  have  sold  for  30/. 
was  in  this  sale.  Mr.  Anies  informs  us  that  this  book  was 
printed  in  England  by  Thomas  VautrolUer  in  i594.  An 
English  edition  of  it  was  printed  in  1713. ' 


^  Nicholt*s  Literary  Anecdotes.— Betham's  Baionetas^* 
^  lbuL-*»Dibdin's  Bibliomania.— GraDger. 


90  BERNARD. 

BERNARD  (James),  professor  of  philosophy  and  ma^ 
thematics,  and  minister  of  the  Walloon  church  at  Leyden, 
vas  bom  Sept.  1,  1658,  at  Nions  in  Dauphin^.     Here^ 
ceived  the  rudiments  of  his  education  in  a  protestant  aca- 
demy, at  Die  in  Dauphin^,  and  went  aftervirards  to  Geneva^ 
where  he  studied  philosophy,  and  acquired  a  critical  know- 
ledge of  the  Hebrew  language  under  the  professor  Michael 
Tnrretin.     He  returned  to  France  in  1679,  and  was  chosen 
sainister  of  Venterol,  a  village  in  Dauphin^.     Some  time 
after  he  was  removed  to  the  church  of  Vinsobres  in  the 
same  province;  but  the  persecutions  raised  against  the 
jprotestants  in  France  having  obliged  him  to  leave  his  na« 
Uve  country,  he  retired  to  Geneva  in  1683,  and  as  he  diti 
not  think  himself  suiBciently  secure  there,  he  went   to 
Lausanne,  where  he  remained  until  the  revocation  of  the 
edict  of  Nantes.     He  then  proceeded  to  Holland,  where 
be  was  appointed  one  6f  the  pensionary  ministers  of  Ganda^ 
and  taught  philosophy :  but  having  married  after  he  came 
to  Holland,  and  the  city  of  Ganda  not  being  very  popu« 
lous,  he  had  not  a  sufficient  number  of  scholars  to  main- 
tain his  family;  and  therefore  obtained  leave  to  reside  at 
the  Hague,    but  went  to  Ganda  to  preach .  in  his  tum^ 
which  was  about  four  times  a  year.     About  the  same  time. 
Le  Clerc,  who  was  his  relation,  procured  him  a  small  sup* 
ply  from  the  town  of  Tergow,  as  preacher ;  and  at  the 
Hague  he  farther  improved  his  circumstances  by  teaching 
philosophy,   belles-lettres,  and  mathematics.     Before  he 
went  to  live  at  the  Hague,  be  had  published  a  kind  of  po-. 
litical  state  of  Europe,    entitled  ^^  Histoire  abreg6e   de 
TEurope,"  &c.     The  work  was  begun  in  July  1686,  and 
continued  monthly  till  December  1688;  making  five  vo- 
lumes in  12mo«     In  1692,  he  began  his  ^^  Lettres  Histo- 
riques,''    containing  an  account  of   the   most  important 
transactions  in  Europe,  with  reflections,  which  was  also 
published  monthly,  till  1698  :  it  was  afterwards  cojitinued 
by  other  hands,  and  contains  a  great  naany  volumes.    ,Mr^ 
Le  Clerc  having  left  off  his  "  Bibliotheque  iipiverselle,'* 
in  1691,  Mr.  Bernard  wrote  the  greatest  part  of  the  20th 
volume,  and  by  himself  carried  on  the  five  following,  to 
the  year  1693  ;  but  as  the  French  critics  think,  not  with 
equal  ability  and  spirit.     In  1699,  he  collected  and  pub- 
lished "  Actes  et  negotiations  de  la  Paix  de  Ryswic,"  four 
vols.  l2mo:  a  new  edition  of  this  collection*  was  published 
in  1707^  five  vols.  12mo.     He  did  not  put  his  name  toan^ 


BERNARD.  ^1 

I 

ef  these  works,  nor  to  the  general  collection  of  the  treaties 
of  peace,  which  he  published  in  1 700 ;  and  which  consists 
of  the  treaties,  contracts,  acts  of  guaranty,  &c.  betwixt 
the  powers  of  Europe,  four  vols.  fol.  The  first  contains 
the  preface,  and  the  treaties  made  since  the  year  536  to 
1500.  The  second  consists  of  Mr.  Amelot  de  la^Homssay's 
historical  and  political  reflections,  and  the  treaties  frpm 
1500  to  1600.  The  third  includes  the  treaties  from  1601 
to  1661  ;  and  the  fourth,  those  from  1661  to  1700,  with  a 
general  alphabetical  index  to  the  whole.  He  prefixed  his 
name,  however,  to  his  continuation  of  Bayle^s  "  Nouvelles 
de  la  Republique  des  Lettres,^'  which  was  begun  in  1698, 
and  continued  till  December  1710.  This  undertaking  en-^ 
gaged  him  in  some  disputes,  particularly  with  one  Mr.  de 
Yallone,  a  monk,  who  having  embraced  the  reformed  re** 
ligion,  wrote  some  metaphysical  books  concerning  pre- 
destination. Mr.  Bernard  having  given  an  account  of  one 
of  these  books,  the  author  was  so  displeased  with  it,  that 
he  printed  a  libel  against  Mr.  Bernard,  and  gave  it  about 
-privately  amongst  his  friends.  He  was  ilso  engaged  in  a 
long  dispute  with  Mr.  Bayle  upon  the  two  following  ques- 
tions :  1.  Whether  the  general  agreement  of  all  nations  in 
favour  of  a  deity,  be  a  good  proof  of  the  existence  of  a 
deity  ?     2.  Whether  atheism  be  worse  than  idolatry  ? 

Mr.  Bernard  having  acquired  great  reputation  by  hit 
works,  as  well  as  by  his  sermons  at  Ganda  and  the  Hague, 
the  congregation  of  the  Walloon  church  at  Leyden  were 
desirous  to  have  him  for  one  of  their  ministers :  but  they 
could  not  accomplish  their  desire  whilst  king  William  lived, 
who  refused  twice  to  confirm  the  election  of  Mr.  Bernard, 
as  being  a  republican  in  his  principles,  and  having  deli- 
vered his  sentiments  too  freely  in  a  sermon  before  this 
prince  :  yet  these  appear  to  have  been  the  same  sentiments 
which  justified  the  revolution  to  which  that  sovereign  owed 
the  crown  of  these  kingdoms.  After  king  William^s  death, 
however,  he  was  unanimously  chosen  in  1705 ;  and  about 
the  same  time  appointed  professor  of  philosophy  and  ma- 
thematics at  Leyden ;  the  university  presenting  him  with 
the  degrees  of  doctor  of  philosophy,  and  master  of  arts. 
In  1716,  he  published  "A  Supplement  to  Moferi's  dic- 
tionary,''  in  two  vols,  folio.  The  same  year  he  resumed 
his  "  Nouvelles  de  la  Republique  des  Lettres,'*  and  con- 
tinued it  till  his  death,  which  happened  the  27th  of  Aprii 
}7l8,  in  the  60th  year  of  his  age. 

."a 


^«  B  E  R  N  A  R  I>. 

Mr.  Bernard  was  well  skilled  in  polite  literature,  dnd  a 
perfect  master  of  the  Hebrew  tongue.  He  studied  the 
scriptures  with  great  attention ;  and  though  he  was  not 
reckoned  of  the  first  class  of  mathematicians,  yet  he  could 
explain  the  principles  of  that  science  in  a  very  clear  and 
able  manner.  As  to  philosophy,  he  had  applied  himself 
to  that  of  Des  Cartes ;  yet  after  he  came  into  Holland, 
having  learned  the  English  tongue,  he  used  to  read  the 
best  books  from  England,  and  had  acquired  some  taste  for 
the  Newtonian  philosophy.  Besides  the  works  above  men- 
tioned, he  published,  1.  "  Le  Theatre  des  etats  du  due  de 
Savoie,  traduit  du  Latin  de  Bleau,"  Hague,  1700,  2  vols, 
fol.  a  beautiful  book,  with  elegant  engravings.  2.  **  Trait6 
de  la  repentance  tardive,"  Amst.  1712,  12mo.  3.  "  De 
Vexcellence  de  la  religion  Chretienne,"  ibid.  1714,  2  vols. 
8vo ;  a  translation  of  which  was  published  by  his  grandson, 
Mr.  Bernard,  of  Doncaster,  Lond.  1793,  8vo,  with  the 
life  of  the  author,  and  notes.  ^ 

BERNARD  (John  Stephen),  a  learned  Dutch  physi- 
cian, was  born  in  1718,  at  Berlin,  where  his  father,  Ga-> 
briel  Bernard,  was  a  minister  of  the  reformed  church.  His 
son  came  to  Holland  to  study  physic  and  determined  to  re« 
main  there.  Having  an  extraordinary  fondness  for  the 
study  of  Greek,  in  which  he  had  made  great  progress,  be 
wished  to  render  this  knowledge  subservient  to  his  profes- 
sion, and  with'' that  view  projected  a  new  edition  of  the 
lesser  Greek  physicians,  whose  works  were  become  very 
scarce  and  dear.  He  began  first  at  Leyden,  in  1743,  with 
Demetrius  Pepagomenus  on  the  gout;  and  next  year  pub* 
lisbed  an  introduction  to  anatomy  by  an  anonymous  author, 
and  a  nomenclature  of  the  parts  of  the  human  body  by 
Hypatius,  both  in  one  volume.  In  1745,  he  published 
Patladius  on  fevers,  and  an  inedited  Chemical  glossary, 
with  some  extracts,  likewise  inedited  from  the  different 
poetical  cbenfiists.  The  same  year  appeared  his  edition  of 
Psellus  on  the  virtues  of  stones.  In  1749,  he  published 
Synesius  on  fevers,  hitherto  inedited,  and  wrote,  in  the 
ninth  volume  of  Dorville's  *^  MiscellanesB  Observationes 
Novae,"  an  account  of  the  variations  of  a  manuscript 
copy  of  the  lexicons  or  glossaries  of  Erotian,  and  Galen. 
In  1754,  when  Neaulme,  the  Dutch  bookseller,  designed 

1  Gen.  Diet  from  te  Clerc  in  NouTelles  de  la  Rep.  des  Lettres,  1618,  Ma^ 
and  June. — Diet.  Hi8t.-^Moreri.— Biog,  UlUT«neUe.<— Life  prefixed  to  bti  "  Eseu 
MUence  of  the  Christian  Religion*'* 


BERNARD.  93 

a  new  edition  of  Longus^s  romancei  Bernard  read  the 
proofs^  and  introduced  some  important  corrections  of  the 
text.  As  be  did  not  put  his  name  to  this  edition,  Messrs. 
Boden,  Dutens,  and  Villoisoni  who  were  also  editors  of 
Longus  after  him,  knew  no  other  way  of  referring  to  hii^ 
than  as  the  **  Paris  editor,"  being  deceived  by  Neaulme's 
dating  the  work  from  Paris,  instead  of  Amsterdam,  where  it 
was  printed.  In  1757,  he  superintended  an  edition  of 
Thomas  Magister,  but  his  professional  engagemefits  not  al- 
lowing him  sufficient  leisure,  the,  preface  was  written  by 
Oudendorp.  From  this  time,  Bernard  having  ceased  ta 
write,  and  having  retired  to  Arnheim,  was  completely  for- 
got until,  says  the  editor  of  the  Biog.  Universelle,  his  death 
was  announced  by  Saxius  in  1790  ;  but  this  seems  a  mis- 
take. Saxius  gives  an  account  of  him,  as  of  some  other 
living  authors,  but  leaves  his  death  blank.  Bernard,  how- 
ever, to.  contradict  such  a  rumour,  or,  as  his  biographer  ex- 
presses himself,  in  order  to  *^  show  some  signs  of  life,'^ 
published  a  Greek  fragment  on  the  dropsy.  It  was.  his  pur- 
pose next  to  publish  Theophilus  Nonnus,  ^'  De  curatione 
morbonim.**  This  work,  on  which  he  had  bestowed  the 
labour  of  many  years,  and  which  is  one  of  his  best  editions, 
was  published  at  Gotha  in  1794,  a  year  after  his  death.  A 
short  time  before  this  event,  he  sent  to  the  society  of  arts 
and  sciences  at  Utrecht,  remarks  on  some  Greek  authors, 
which  appeared  in  the  first  volume  of  the  '*  Acta  Littera- 
ria"  of  that  society.  In  1795,  Dr.  Gruner  published  v;ni- 
ous  letters  and  pieces  of  criticism,  which  Bernard,  who  was 
bis  mtimate  friend,  had  sent  to  him,  under  the  title:  of 
**  Bemardi  ReliquisB  medico-criticee."  Several  very  lewni- 
ed  and  curious  letters  from  Bernard  were  also  published  in 
Beiske's  Memoirs,  Leipsic,  1783.* 

BERNARD  (John  FREnERic),  an  industrious  and  learn- 
ed bookseller  of  Amsterdam,  distinguished  himself  about 
the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  both  as  author  and  edi-: 
tor  of  various  works  of  considerable  importance.  He  wTote 
rather  learnedly  than  elegantly,  yet  with  so  much  im  par-^ 
tiality  and  candour,  that  be  had  many  readers.  The  fol- 
lowing list  has  been  given  of  the  principal  works  of  w  tiich 
iie  was  editor :  1.  **  Recueil  de  voyages  an  Nord,  conte- 
nant  divers  memoires  tres- utiles  au  commerce  et  a  la  navi- 
gation,^' Amst  1715 — 38^  10  vols.   l2mo.     To  thesje  he 

^  Siog.  (JnWifneUe.— Saicii  OnOniasUcoQ* 


94  BERN  A  R  D. 

wrote  the  preliminary  dissertation,  the  two  dissertations!  an 
the  means  of  useful  travel,  and  the  account  of  Grejsit  Tar- 
tary*  2.  "  Memoires  du  comte  de  Brienne,  ministre  d'etat 
sous  Louis  XIV.  avec  des  notes,"  ibid.  1719,  3  vols.  12aio» 
3.  ,"Picart*s  Religious  Ceremonies,"  ibid.  1723 — 43,  9  vols* 
fol.    4.  "  Superstitions  anciennes  et  modernes,"  1733-^36, 

2  vols.  fol.     The  second  Amsterdam  edition  of  these  two 
works  was  printed  in  1739 — 43,  1 1  vols,  folio ;  and  in  1741  ■ 
the  abbes  Banier  and  le  Mascrier  published  another  edi- 
tion at  Paris,  7  vols,  folio,  with  Picarf  s  designs,  but  the 
articles  differently  arranged;  and  M.  Poucelin  gave  after- 
wards an  abridgment,  with  the  same  cuts,  Paris,  4  vols.  foL' 
Lastly,   M.  Prudhomme  undertook  a  new  edition  of  the 
Dutch  copy,  with  many  additions  respecting  the  history  of 
religion  from  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  ceii- 
tury,  and  additional  plates  to  those  of  Picart,  comprised 
in  13  folio  volumes,  besides  an  additional  volume  of  new^ 
matter.     .5.  ^^  Dialogues  critiques  et  philosophiques,  par 
D.  Charte-Livry  (J.F.Bernard),"  ibid.   1730,   12mo.     6. 
**  Reflections  morales,   satyriques  et^  comiques,"    Liege, 
1733,  12mo.     This  work  has  been  attributed  to  D.  Durand, 
but  he  absolutely  denied  it,  and  Desfontaines  assures  us  that> 
it  was  written   by   Bernard.     7.   **  Histoire  critique  des^ 
Journaux,  par  Camusat,"   Amst.  1734,  2  vols.  12mo.     8.. 
**  Dissertations  melees  sur  divers  sujets  importans  et  cu- 
rieux,"  Amst  1740,  2  vols.  12mo.     Of  these  two  last  Ber- 
nard is  only  the  editor.     9.  An  edition  of  Rabelais,   1741, 

3  vols.  4to,  with  Picart's  cuts,  a  well-known  and  most  beau- 
tiful book.  Bernard,  who  flourished  a:s  a  bookseller  of 
great  eminence  from  the  year  1711,  died  at  Amsterdam  in 
1752.* 

BERNARD  (Nicholas),  a  learned  English  divine  of. 
the  seventeenth  century,  was  educated  in  the  university  of 
Canabridge,  where  he  took  the  degree  of  M.  A.  and  was  in- 
corporated to  the  same  degree  at  Oxford,  July  15,  1628, 
He  was  probably  created  D.  D.  of  the  university  of  Dublin, 
but  this  has  not  been  exactly  ascertained.  He  was  or- 
dained by  primate  Usher,  in  1626,  in  St.  Peter^s  church, 
Drogheda,  while  he  was  only  B.  A.  and  made  his  chaplain,, 
and  ^oon  after,  by  his  interest,  was  promoted  to  the  dean-* 
ery  of  Ardagh.  His  Grace  having  daily  opportunities  of 
takinj^  notice  of  the  learning  and  judgment  of  Mr.  Bernard^. 

1  BiQf •  Umv«F9elle« 


BERNARD.  95 

employed  him  in  making  collections  for  some  works  he  was 
then  meditating,  particularly  for  the  antiquities  of  the  Bri^* 
tish  churches;  which  did  not  appear  till  1639.     The  pri* 
mate  always  expressed  great  friendship  and  esteem  for  him ; 
and  upon  taking  his  leave  of  him  at  Drogheda  in   1640, 
gave  him  '^  A  serious  preparative  against  the  heavy  sor-« 
row3  and  miseries  that' he  should  feel  before  he  saw  him 
again,  and  spoke  of  them  with  that  confidence,  as  if  they 
had  been  within  his  view."     This  serious  discourse  proved 
in  the  event  to  be  a  prophecy,  as  will  be  noticed  in  the 
life  of  that  prelate.     The  year  foUowipg,  Dr.  Bernard  pub- 
lished a  book  and  a  sermon  which  gave  offence.     These 
were  entitled,   1.  **  The  penitent  death  of  a  woful  Sinner; 
or,  the  penitent  death  of  John  Atherton,  late  bishop  of  Wa-> 
terford  in  Ireland,  who  was  executed  at  Dublin  the  fifth  of 
December,   1640;  with  some  annotations  on  several  pas« 
sages,"   London,   1641,  4to;  1642,  8vo.     2.  "  A  sermon 
preached  at  the  burial  of  John  Atherton,  the  next  night 
after  his  execution,  in  St.  John's  church,  Dublin,"  Lond. 
1641,  4to ;  1642,  8vo.     Dr.  Bernard  had  the  best  opportu- 
nity in  the  world  of  knowing  the  truth  of  the  fact  for  which 
bishop  Atherton  suffered,  having  attended  him  in  his  exem- 
plary preparation  for  death,  and  in  his  last  moments,  and 
he  gives  us  his  behaviour  and  confessipn  fairly  and  honestly. 
The  cause  of  offence  seems,  upon  the  whole,  to  have  been 
an  opinion  that  this  disgraceful  affair  had  better  be  buried 
in  oblivion.     Archbishop  Usher,   however,  who  saw  Dr* 
Bernard's  good  intentions,  did  not  withdraw  from  him  his 
favour  or  countenance.    The  same  year  was  published  a 
pamphlet  of  his  writing,  upon  the  siege  of  Drogheda,  of 
which  he  was  an  eye-witness.     In  the  summer  of  1642,  hav-^ 
ing  lost  most  of  his  substance,  he  returned  safe  to  England 
to  attend  on  the  lord  primate,  and  carried  with  him  Usher's 
valuable  library,  which  was  afterwards  removed  to  Ireland, 
and  is  now  in  Trinity-college,  Dublin.     Upon  his  arrival  in 
England,  he  was  presented,  by  the  earl  of  Bridgwater,  to 
the  rich  rectory  of  Whitchurch  in  Shropshire,  and  after  the 
declension  of  the  royal  cause,  was  made  chaplain  to  the 
Protector,  one  of  his  almoners,  and-preacher  to  the  society 
of  Gray's  inn.     Being  thus  comfortably  settled,  in  1642  he 
found  leisure,  from  his  pastoral  charge,  to  publish  ^*  The 
whole  proceedings  of  the  siege  of  Drogheda,"  London  and 
Dublin,  1642,  4to;  and  Dublin,  1736 ;  and  "  A  Dialogue 
between  Paul  and  Agrippa,"  London,  1642,  4to.    After 


96  B  E  R  N  A  R  D. 

the  restofation  of  king  Charles  II.  in  1660,  having  no  con^ 
fidence  in  the  settlement  of  the  state  of  Ireland,  he  dedinecl 
returning  and  taking  possession  of  his  deanery,  and  conti- 
nued at  Whitchurch  to  his  death,   which  happened  in  win- 
ter, 1661.     His  other  works  were,    1.  "  A  farewell. sermon 
ofcomfort  and  concord,  preached  at  Drogheda,"  1651,  8vo* 
2.   "  The  life  and  death  of  Dr.  James  Usher,  late  archbishop 
of  Armagh,  primate  and  metropolitan  of  all  Ireland,  in  a 
9ermon  preached  at  bis  funeral  in  the  abbey  of  Westmin- 
ster, on  the  17th  of  April,    1656,"  London,   .1656^   12mo^ 
afterwards  enlarged.     3.  "  The  judgment  of  the  late  arch- 
bishop of  ArmagTi  and  primate  of  Ireland ;  concerning  first, 
the  extent  of  Christ's  death  and  satisfaction  ;  secondly,  of 
the  Sabbath,  and  observation  of  the  Lord's  day,"  &c.  London, 
1657,  8vo.     This  treatise  was  answered  by  Dr.  Peter  Hey- 
lyn,  in  a  book  entitled  "  Respondet  Petrus ;  or,  the  aii&wer 
of  Peter  Heylyn,  D.  D.  to  so  much  of  Dr.  Bernard's  book 
entitled  *  The  judgment  of  the  late  primate  of  Ireland,'  &ci 
as  he  is  made  a  party  by  the  said  lord  primate  in  the  point 
of  the  Sabbath,"  London,   16^8,  4to.     He  also  published 
several  letters  which  passed  between  him  and  Dr.  Heylyn, 
— and  published  and  enlarged  several  posthumous  works  of 
Dr.  Usher;  as,  **  His  judgment  on  Babylon  being  the  pre-» 
sent  see  of  Rome,  Rev.  xviii.  4,  with  a  sermon  of  bishop 
Bedell's  upon  the  same  words,".  London,  1659. — "  Devo^ 
tions  of  the  ancient  church,  in  seven  pious  prayers,"  &c. 
London,  1660,  8vo. — "  Clavi  trabales,  or  nails  fastened  by 
some  great  masters  of  assemblies,   confirming  the  king's 
supremacy,  the  subject's  duty,  and  church  government  by 
bishops;   being  a  collection  of  some  pieces  written   on 
these  subjects  by  archbishop  Usher,  Mr.  Hooker,  bishop 
Andrews,  and  Dr.  Hadrian  Saravia;  with  a  preface  by  the- 
bishop  of  Lincoln,"  Loudon,  1661,  4to.* 

BBiRNARD  (Peter  Joseph),  a  French,  poet,  was  the 
son  of  a  sculptor  at  Grenoble  in  Dauphin^,  and  bom  ith 
1710.  Being  sent  to  the  college  of  Jesuits  at  Lyons,  he 
made  rapid  progress  under  able  masters,  who  were  desirous 
of  attaching  him  to  their  body ;  but  the  young  scholar,  too 
fond  of  liberty  and  pleasure^  would  not  consent  to  thai 
confinement.  Being  drawn  to  Paris  by  the  wish  to  make  a/ 
figure  in  the  poetical  world,  he  was  obliged  to  employ  him- 
self for  two  years  as  clerk  to  a  notary.     The  light  pieces  of 

>  Biof.  BritaoDica.*— Wood's  Fasti,  vol.  I.-^Lloyd'«  Memoirs,  foL 7Q1, 


BERNARD.  97 

pn^try  he  seni  abroad  at  intervalsi  of  which  the  best  are  tb^ 
«putle  to  ClaudiDe,  and  t)ie  song  of  the  Rose,  procure^ 
him  a  patron  in  the  oi^qui^  de  Pezay^  who  took  him  witU 
him  to  the  earopaign  of  Italy.  Bernard  was  at  the  battle^ 
Qf  Parma  and  Guastalla ;  and  behaved  with  considerably 
l^ravery.  Being  presented  to  the  marechal  de  Coigni,  wha 
commanded  there,  he  was  lucky  enough  to  please  him  by 
his  wit  and  agreeable  manners.  The  marechal  took  hioi 
to  be  his  secretary,  admitted  him  to  his  intimacy,  an4 
«ome  time  afterwards  procured  him  the  place  of  secretary « 
general  of  the  dragoons.  From  gratitude  he  attached  him« 
self  constantly  to  this  Maecenasi  till  1756,  when  he  wa$ 
deprived  of  him  by  death.  He  was  in  great  request  in  all 
the  select  companies  of  the  court  and  of  Paris;  whom  he 
delighted  by  the  brilliant  wit,  and  warmth  of  his  verses 
and  airs,  of  which  some  are  worthy  of  Anacreon.  lu 
1771  the  sudden  loss  of  his  memory  put  an  end  to  his 
happiness,  and  he  fell  into  a  state  of  mental  imbecillity. 
In  this  condition  be  went  to  a  revival  of  bis  opera  of  Castor, 
^nd  was  incessantly  asking,  <^  Is  the  king  come  ?  Is  the 
king  pleased  with  it  ?  Is  madame  de  Pompadour  pleased 
with  it  ?"  thinking  he  was  all  the  while  at  Versailles ;  and 
riotiug  in  the  delirium  of  a  courtly  poet.  He  died  in  this 
unhappy  state>  Nov.  1,  1775.  Besides  his  lighter  pieceis 
of  poetry,  which  got  him  the  appellation  of  le  gentil  Bernard^ 
several  operas  added  much  to  his  reputation.  In  1803  an 
edition  of  his  works  was  published  in  2  vols.  8vo,  apd  4  vols* 
l8mo,  comprehending  several  pieces  not  before  published ; 
but  upon  the  whole,  according  to  the  opinion  of  his  coun- 
trymen, hb  talents  were  not  of  the  i^rst  order,  and  his 
popularity  appears  to  have  been  owing  more  to  his  grati- 
fying the  passions  than  the  taste  of  his  companions  and 
readers.^ 

BERNARD  (Richard),  an  English  divine  of  the  seven*  • 
teenth  century,. and  rector  of  Batecombe  in  Somersetshire^ 
was  author  of  *^  Thesaurus  Blblicus,"  a  laborious  work  for- 
merly much  used  by  way  of  concordance.  .  He  was  also 
author  of  an^ '^^  Abstract  and  Epitome  of  the  Bible.'^  In 
1627  he  published  ^<  A  guide  to  grand  jurymen  with  .re-, 
spect  to  Witohes,"  the  country  where  he  lived  being,  if  we 
may  believe  Glanville,  formerly  much  infested  with  them^ 
lie  died  in  1641,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  famous  noa*» 

Vol.  V.  H 


^4  BERNARD. 

coDformist  Richard  Allein^  of  whom  there  is  an  account  in 
Tol.  L.p.  479,  of  this  work.  Mr.  Bernard,  of  whom  we  hay* 
no  farther  biographical  memoirs,  was  also  the  author  of  an  al- 
legorical work,  entitled  '^  The  Isle  of  Man,  or  legal  proceed- 
ing in  Man-stiire  against  sin  ;^*  the  tenth  edition  of  which  was 
published  in  1635.  This  work  has  been  lately  reprinted,  from 
a  conjecture  that  Bunyan  might  have  taken  from  it  the  plan 
of  his  **  Pilgrim^s  Progress."  The  two  authors  agree,  how- 
ever, in  our  opinion,  only  in  the  personification  of  graces 
and  sins,  or  virtues  and  vices,  which  is  of  higher  origin 
than  either;  and,  if  the  comparative  merits  of  the  two 
works  be  exannined,  no  reader  can  hesitate  a  moment  in 
giving  the  preference  to  Bunyan.  * 

BERNARD  (Richard),  another  author  of  whom  we 
know  only  that  he  lived  at  Epworth  in  Lincolnshire,  in  the 
reign  of  queen  Elizabeth,  is  chiefly  noticeable  as  having 
given  the  first  entire  translation  of  Terence's  comedies, 
published  in  1598,  4to,  and  often  reprintejl  between  that 
year  and  1641.* 

BERNARD  (Samuel),  an  opulent  financier  of  France, 
was  the  son  of  Samuel  Bernard,  an  engraver  (mentioned 
by  Strutt),  who  died  in  1637.  He  was  born  in  1651,  but 
how  educated,  or  by  what  means  he  raised  his  fortune,  we 
are  not  told.  Under  the  ministry  of  Chamillard  he  became 
•a  farmer  general,  and  accumulated  a  capital  of  thirty -three 
millions,  of  which  he  made  a  very  liberal  use',  but  seems 
to  have  been  proudly  aware  of  the  superiority  of  lender 
over  borrower.  When  Louis  XIV.  wanted  supplies,  Ber- 
nard granted  them,  but  always  in  consequence  of  his  ma- 
jesty ^s  applying  to  him  in  person.  *  Louis  XV.  when  in 
need  of  similar  help,  sent  certain  persons  to  Bernard,  whose 
answer  was,  that  *Hhose  who  wanted  his  assistance  might 
at  least  take  the  trouble  to  apply  themselves.'*  He  was 
accordingly  presented  to  the  king,  who  said  many  flat- 
tering things  to  him,  and  ordered  the  courtiers  to  pay  him 
every  mark  of  respect  Bernard  was  now  called  the  saviour 
of  the  state ;  all  the  courtiers  entertained  him  .in  succes* 
sion  ;  he  dined  with  the  marshal  Noailles,  and  supped 
with  the  duchess  of  Tallard,  and  played  and  lost  what  they 
pleased.  They  sneered  at  his  manners,  which  were  ci- 
tizen-like, and  he  lent  the  millions  which  they  demanded. 
Bernard,  however,  was  of  a  benevolent  turn ;  the  poor  of 

^  Last  edition  of  this  Diet. — Granger.  *  Jacobus  Lives. — ^Biog.  Dram, 


BERNARD.  99 

the  tniUtary  order  were  particularly  the  subjects  of  his 
bounty,  and,  frequently  as  they  might  apply,  they  never 
y^ere  refused.  On  his  death  it  was  found  that  he  had  lent 
ten  millions^  of  which  he.  never  received  a  farthing  in  re- 
turn. In  his  speculations  he  was  bi)th  bold  and  successful. 
One  day  he  had  asked  a  person  of  distinction  to  dine  with 
him,  and  had  promised  to  treat  him  wiih  some  excellent 
mountain,  not  knowing  at  that  time  that  his  stock  was  ex- 
hausted. After  dinner  his  servant  announced  this  lament- 
able deficiency,  and  Bernard,  not  a  little  hurt  at  the  un- 
seasonable discovery,  immediately  dispatched  one  of  his 
clerks  to  Holland,'  with  instructions  to  purchase  every 
drop  of  mountain  in  the  port  of  Amsterdam,  by  v^hich  he 
afterwards  gained  an  immense  sum.  Of  his  family,  so 
little  was  known,  that  he  was  supposed  to  be' of  Jewish 
descent,  but  without  any  reason.  He  used  to  say,  that  if 
they  would  make  him  a  chevalier,  his  name  would  no  longer 
hurt  their  delicate  feelincrs,  and  accordingly,  he  received 
letters  of  nobility.  He  then  purchased  several  estates 
with  titles,  and  among  others,  those  of  the  counts  of  Cou- 
bert ;  and  during  the  last  years  of  his  life,  he  was  generally 
called  the  chevalier  Bernard.  One  of  bis  sons,  president 
of  one  of  the  chambers  of  inquiry  in  parliament,  bore  the 
name  of  Rieux  ;  another  was  called  the  count  de  Coubert, 
and  bis  grandson,  Anne-GabrieKHenry  Bernard,  assumed 
the  title  of  marquis  de  Boulainvilliers.  He  married  his 
daughter  to  M0I6,  first  president,  and  thus  became  grand- 
father to  the  duchess  de  Coss6-Brissac  ;  and  his  family^ 
by  these  revolutibns,  became  allied  to  the  great  names  of 
Biron,  Duroure,  and  Boulainvilliers.  Bernard  was  the 
friend  of  the  keeper  of  the  seals,  Chauvelin,  and  remained 
faithful  to  him  when  disgraced.  It  is  said  that  he  was,  or 
in  his  old  age  became  superstitious,  and  fancied  his  life 
connected  with  that  of  a  black  fowl,  of  which  he  took  great 
care,  convinced  that  its  death  would  be  the  prelude  to  his 
own.  He  lived,  however,  to  the  advanced  age  of  eighty- 
eight,  dying  in  1739.  Another  account  intorms  us,  tnat 
tlie  greater  part  of  his  thirty-three  millions  was  dissipated 
within  ten  years  after  his  death,  and  that  one  of  his  son^^ 
who  was  president  of  the  parliament  of  Paris,  died  a  bank*. 
tupt  Such  vicissitudes  are  too  common  in  all  ages  to 
e^Lcite  much  surprize.  ^ 

^  Biog.  Univertclle.— Diet  Hiit. 
H  2 


100  BERNARDL 

•       ••         .  . 

BERNARDI  DEL  CASTEL  BOLOGNESE  (John), 
9Q  palled  from  Ca&tel  Bolognese  in  the  Romania^  where  bq 
was  born  in  1495,  distinguished  bimself  for  bis  admirably 
skill  in  engraving  on  precious  stones.  After  having  resided 
for  several  years  ,with  Alphonso  duke  of  Ferrara,  where  his 
works  excited  univerisal  admirationi  he  went  to  Rome,  and 
attached  bimself  to  the  cardinal  Hyppolito  de  Medicis, 
whose  friendship  be  preferred  to  the  brilliant  offers  made 
by  Charles  V.  who  was  very  desirous  of  his  residing  in 
Spain.  At  Rome,  Bernard  executed  some  medals  in  ho- 
nour of  Clement  VIL  of  such  exquisite  beauty,  as  to  meet 
with  the  applause  even  of  his  rivals.  .  Among  the  chefs- 
d^ceuvre  which  he  left,  are  two  engravings  on  crystal, 
which  have  been  particularly  noticed  by  connoisseurs.  Th^ 
subjects  are  the  **  Fall  of  Phaeton,"  and  "  Tityus  with 
the  vulture,?  from  designs  by  Micha,el  Angelo^  both  which 
we^e  thought  to  approach  to  the  perfection  of  the  ancients. 
Enriched  by  the  patronage  of  cardinal  de  Medicis,  and 
esteemed  by  all  who  knew  him,  he  passed  his  latter  days  in 
a  charming  retreat,  at  Faenza,  which  he  had  enriched 
with  a  fine  collection  of  pictures,  and  where  he  died  in 
1555.* 

BERNARDI  (John),  usually  called  major  Bernardi,  an 
adventurer  of  whom  there  is  a  very  prolix,  but  not  very 
interesting  account  in  the  Biographia  Britannica,  was  bom 
at  Evesham,  in  1657,  and  was  descended  from  an  honour* 
able  family  which  bad  flourished  at  Lucca  in  Italy,  from 
the  year  1097.  His  grandfather  Philip,  a  count  of  the 
Roman  empire,  lived  in  England  as  resident  from  Genoa 
twenty -eight  years,  and  married  a  native  of  this  country. 
His  father  Francis  succeeded  to  this,  of&ce ;  but,  taking 
disgust  at  some  measures  adopted  by  the  senate  of  Genoa, 
resigned,  and  retiring  to  Evesham,  amused  himself  with 
gardening,  on  which  he  spent  a  considerable  sum  of 
money,  and  set  a  good  example  in  that  science  to  the 
town.  John,  his  son,  the  subject  of  this  article,  of  a  spirited 
s^nd  restless  temper,  having  received  some  harsh  usage 
from  his  father,  at  the  age  of  thirteen  ran  away  to  avoid 
his  severity,  and  perhaps  without  any  determinate  pur-» 
pose.  He  retained,  notwithstanding,  several  friends,  and 
was  for  some  time  supported  by  them,  but  their  friendship* 
appears  to  have  gone  little  farther ;  for  soon  after  he  en- 

i^Biog.  Univ.-*Dict.  Hist 


BERNARD].  lot 

t 

listed  as  a  common  soldier  in  the  service  of  the  prince  of 
Or&nge.  In  this  station  he  showed  nncommon  talents  arid 
bravery,  and  in  a  short  time  obtained  a  captain's  commis-> 
sion  in  the  service  of  the  States.  In  April  1677,  he  mar- 
ried a  Datch  lady  of  good  family,  with  whom  he  enjoyed 
much  conjugal  happiness  for  eleven  years.  The  English 
regiments  in  the  Dutch  service  being  recalled  by  James  IL 
very  few  of  them,  but  among  those  few  was  Bernard!; 
would  obey  the  summons,  and  of  course,  he  could  not 
tign  the  association,  into  which  the  printe  of  Orange 
wished  the  regiments  to  enter.  He  thus  lost  his  favour, 
and  having  no  other  alternative,  and  probably  wishing 
for  no  other,  he  followed  the  abdicated  James  II.  into 
Ireland ;  who,  soon  after,  sent  him  on  some  commissioti 
into  Scotland,  from  whence,  as  the  ruin  of  his  master  now 
became  inevitable,  he  once  more  retired  to  Holland. 
Venturing,  hov^ever,  to  appear  in  London  in  1695,  hetv^» 
committed  to  Newgate  ]Vlarch  25j  1696,  on  suspicion  of 
being  an  abettor  of  the  plot  to  assassinate  king  William, 
and  although  sufficient  evidence  could  not  be  brought  to 
prove  the  fact,  he  was  sentenced  and  continued  in  prison 
by  the  express  decree  of  six  successive  parliaments,  with 
five  other  persons,  where  he  remained  for  more  than  forty 
years.  As  this  was  a  circumstance  whdily  without  i  pre- 
cedent, it  has  been  supposed  thaft  there  must  hare  been 
something  in  his  character  particularly  dangerous,  to  in- 
duce four  sovereigns  and  six  parliaments  to  protract  his 
confinement,  without  either  legally  condemning  or  par-, 
doning  him. 

In  his  confinement  he  had  the  courage  to  venture  on  a 
second  marriage,  which  proved  a  Very  fortunate  event  to 
him,  as  he  thos  not  only  enjoyed  the  soothing  converse  t)f 
a  true  friend,  but  was  even  supported  during  his  whole 
imprisonment  by  the  care  and  industry  of  his  wife.  Teti 
bhildren  were  the  produce  of  this  marriage,  the  inheritors 
of  misery  and  confinemeht.  In  the  mean  time  he  is  said 
to  have  Borne  his  imprisonment  with  such  resignation  and 
evenness  of  temper,  as  to  have  excited  ihuch  respect  and 
love  in  the  few  who  enjoyed  his  acquaintance.  In  the  eai'- 
lier  part  of  life  he  had  received  several  dangerous  wo\ihdi^, 
which  now  breaking  out  afi'esh,  and  giving  hiih  great  tor- 
ment, afforded  a  fresh  trial  of  his  equanimity  and  firmiifesS. 
At  length  he  died  Sept.  20,  1736,  leaving  bis  wife  and 
numerous  family  probably  iii  a  destitute  state  i  but  what 


iOS  BERNARDL 

became  of  them  afterwards  is. not  known.  Bemardi  was  m 
little,  brisk,  and  active  man,  of  a  very  cheerful  disposition^ 
and,  as  may  appear  even  from  this  short  narrative^  of  great 
courage  and  constancy  of  mind.  ^ 

BERNARDINEy  an  ecclesiastic  and  saint,  was  born  at 
Massa,  in  Tuscany,  Sept.  8,  1380.  Having  lost  his  mo- 
ther at  three  years  of  age,  and  his  father  at,  seven,  his  re- 
lations in  1392  sent  for  him  to  Sienna,  where  he  learned 
grammar  under  Onuphrius,  and  philosophy  under  John 
Spoletantis.  In  1396  he  entered  himself  among  the  con- 
fraternity of  the  disciplinaries  in  the  hospital  de  la  Scala  in 
that  city  :  and  in  1 400,  when  the  plague  ravaged  all  Italy, 
be  attended  upon  the  sick  in  that  hospital  with  the  utmost 
diligence  and  humanity.  In  1404  he  entered  into  a  mo- 
nastery of  the  Franciscan  order,  near  Sienna,  and,  having 
been  ordained  priest,  became  an  eminent  preacher.  He 
was  afterwards  sent  to  Jerusalem,  as  commissary  of  the 
boly  land  ;  and  upon  his  return  to  Italy,  visited  several 
cities,  where  he  preached  with  great  applause.  His  ene- 
mies accused  him  to  pope  Mariin  V.  of  having  advanced 
in  bis  sermons  erroneous  propositions ;  upon  which  he  was 
ordered  to  Rome,  where  he  vindicated  himself,  apd  was 
allowed  to  continue  his  preaching.  The  cities  of  Ferrara, 
Sienna,  and  Urbino,  desired  pope  Eugenius  IV.  to  ap- 
point him  their  bishop ;  but  Bernardine  refused  to  accept 
of  this  honour.  He  repaired  and  founded  above  3G0  monas- 
teries in  that  country.  He  died  at  Aquila  in  Abruzzo, 
May  20,  1444,  and  was  canonised  in  1450,  by  pope  Ni- 
cbolas. 

His  works  were  first  published  by  Peter  Rodolphus^ 
bishop  of  Sinigaglia,  1591,  Venice,  4  vols.  4to,  and  father 
de  Lahaye  published  a  new  edition  at  Paris,  1636,  5  vols, 
fol.  which  has  been  followed  by  one  of  the  same  number 
of  volumes,  at  Venice,  1745.  The  edition  of  1591  is 
thus  analyzed:  Volume  1.  contains  his  ^^Quadragesimale 
de  Keligione  Christiana,**  inchuii  tg  sixty-one  Lent  ser- 
mons. The  second  contains  ^  QuaJragesimale  de  Evan- 
gelio  tsterno,**  or  a  course  of  Lent  sermons  upon  the  ever- 
lasting gospel.  The  third  contains  two  ^'  Adveiuualia/* 
one  concerning  the  life  of  Christ,  according  to  Mr.  Whar- 
ton, in  his  appendix  to  Dr.  Cave's  Historia  Littraria,  or 
concerning  the  Beatitudes,  according  to  Du   Pin ;  the 

I  Biof  •  Brit  firon  s  Life  pnblti lied  by  himself. — ^TindaPs  Hist  of  ETetbaiii. 


BERNARDINE.  103. 

•tfaer  concerning  Inspirations.  The  s^me  volume  likewise 
includes  two  ^*  Quadragesimalia/'  one  concerning  the  Spi« 
ritual  Combat,  and  the  other  entitled  the  Seraphim,  or  of 
Love ;  several  sermons  upon  the  four  last  things,  and  others 
entitled  Extraordinary,  to  the  number  of  twenty-five ; 
'^  A  treatise  upon  Confession  ;*'  the  ^*  Mirror  of  Sinners  ;** 
a  discourse  uppn  tlie  precepts  of  the  rule  of  the  Minorite 
friars,  or  a  '^  Tract  concerning  the  Precepts  of  a  Reli« 
gious ;''  a  letter  to  the  monks  of  his  order  in  Italy,  con- 
cerning several  regulations ;  ^'  Holy  Breathings  to  God, 
for  every  day ;"  a  dialogue  concerning  Obedience.  Father 
de  la  Haye  is  not  of  opinion  the  two  Quadragesimalia  in 
this  volume  are  the  genuine  productions  of  our  author,  be-^ 
cause  they  are  written  in  a  different  style,  and  with  less 
elevation  and  learning  than  the  other  works  of  bt.  Ber* 
nardine.  The  last  volume  contains  his  sermons  upon  se* 
Teral  other  Sundays  of  the  year,  and  the  festivals  of  our 
Saviour  and  the  Saints,  with  a  ^'  Commentary  upon  the 
Apocalypse.*'  We  have  not  now  extant  his  treatise  of  the 
'-'  Conception  of  the  blessed  Virgin,"  mentioned  by  Tri* 
tbemius  and  other  authors.  The  sermons  of  St.  Bernardine 
are  not  written  in  a  very  pure  style ;  but  they  contain,  a 
great  deal  of  solid  morality,  and  he  does  not  fall  so  fre- 
quently into  false  conceits  and  puerilities,  as  the  ottier 
preachers  of  that  age.  ^ 

BERNARDONI  (PET£]t  Antony),  an  Italian  poet,  was 
bom  at  Vignola,  in  the  duchy  of  Modena,  June  30,  1672. 
His  early  studies  afforded  great  promise  of  talents,  and  at 
the  age  of  nineteen  he  was  admitted  into  the  academy  of 
the  Arcadians.  He  resided  a  considerable  time  at  Bo- 
logna, where  he  established  a  colony  of  Arcadians,  and  for 
this  reason  in  the  title  of  some  of  his  works  be  is  styled  a 
Bolognese,  although  certainly  not  a  native  of  tnat  city.  In 
1701  he  was  appointed  imperial  poet  at  the  court  of  Vienna, 
which  he  would  fain  have  given  up  in  favour  of  Apostolo 
S^eoo,  but  the  latter  declined  it,  and  Bernardoui  accordingly 
filled  the  oflice  under  the  two  emperors  Leopold  and  Jo- 
seph I.  He  died  at  Bologna,  Jan.  19,  1714.  He  pub-^ 
lished  .two  collections  of  poetry:  1.  "  I  Fiori,  primizie 
poetiche,  divise  in  rime  amorose,  sacre,  morali,  e  funebri,*' 
Bologna,  1694,  l2mo;  and  ^*  Rime  varie,'' Vienna,  1705, 
4to*     2.  Several  tragedies  and  musical  dramas,  oratorios^ 

>  Geiu  Diet. — Moreri; — Biog.  UoWenelle.-^-Dupiiu — Cave. 


104  B  E  R  N  A  R  D  O  N  L 

he.  all  which  were  collected  in  the  edition  of  hiB  work» 
published  at  Bologna,   1706 — 7,  3  vols.  8vo.' 

BERNAZZANO,  a  Milanese  painter,  flotirished  about 
the  year  1536.  His  Christian  name  is  not  known.  Or« 
landi  speaks  of  him  by  the  name  only  of  Bemazzano  of 
Milan.  His  friend  Csesar  de  S^sta,  the  scholar  of  Leonard' 
da  Vinci^  being  a  good  painter  of  figures,  bpt  deficient  in 
landscape,  a  branch  in  which  Bernazzano  excelled,  they 
agreed  to  a  partnership  in  their  works.  Among  their 
numerous  paintings  b  a  *'  baptism  of  our  Saviour,''  in  which 
Bemazzano  painted  some  fruit  so  naturally  that  birds  came 
and  pecked  at  it.  Such  anecdotes  are  not  uncommon  in 
the  history  of  painting,  but  generally  to  be  received  with 
caution.  Lomazzoinhis Trattatodell' arte della pittura,'! Mi- 
lan, 1584,  4to,  does  not  give  the  date  of  Bernazzano's  death. ', 

BERNEGGER  (Matthias),  who  was  born  Feb.  8, 1582, 
at  Hallstadt,  in  Austria,  became  rector  of  the  college^ 
and  professor  of  history  at  Strasburgh,  where  he  died 
Feb.  3,  1640.  He  was  esteemed  one  of  the  best  critics  of 
his  time,  and  had  particularly  studied  the  works  of  Thu- 
cydides,  Tacitus,  Suetonius,  and  Sallust  Niceron  (vol. 
XXVII)  has  a  large  catalogue  of  his  writings,  of  which 
the  principal  are:  1.  ^'  Hypobolimaea  D.  Marie  Deiparoe 
Camera,  seu  Idolum  Lauretanum,  &c.  dejectum,*'  Stras« 
burgh,  1619,  4to.  2.  ^*  De  jure  eligendi  reges  et  prin- 
cipes,^'  ibid.  1627,  4to.  He  edited  an  edition  of  Tacitus^ 
1638,  4to,  and  one  of  Pliny  the  younger,  with  a  selection 
of  notes,  1635,  4to.  He  likewise  translated  Galileo  from 
the  Latin.  Bemegger  corresponded  with  Kepler  and  Gro- 
Uus,  and  their  letters  were  published  under  the  titled 
^^  Epistolas  mutuee  H.  Grotii  et  Matt.  Berneggeri,"  Stras- 
burgh, 1667,  12mo  ;  and  <^  Epistolas  Joannis  Kepleri,  &c.'^ 
ibid.  1672, 12mo.  Freinshem  was  his  nephew,.  His  '^  Ob^ 
servationes  miscellanei*'  on  history,  &c.  were  published  by 
his  son  in  1669,  8vo.' 

BERNEkS  (Juliana),  on  account  of  her  being  one  of 
the  earliest  female  writers  in  England,  is  entitled  to  some 
notice  in  this  work,  although  the  most  painful  research 
has  discovered  very  little  of  her  personal  history.  She 
is  frequently  called  Juliana  Barnes,  but  Bemers  was  bev 
more  proper  name.     She  was  an  Essex  lady,  and,  accord* 

1  Biog.  Universelle.— Quadrio's  Hist.  Poet.  toI.  III. 
•  Biog.  Univ. — Moren.-<i-PiIkington. 

>  Biog.    Univ.— Freheri    Tbeatrum.— Baillet   Jugeooens  de  SaTans.— Suit 
OnomastiooD. 


B  E  R  N  E  R  S.  IbS 

itig  to  Mr.  Ballard)  was  probably  bom  at  RodiHg  id  that 
county,  about  the  beginning  of  the  fifteei\th  century ;  being 
the  daughter  of  sir  Jame^  Bemers  of  Bern'ers  Rbding,  and 
sister  of  Richard  lord  Berners.     If,  however,  as  is  gerv^« 
niUy  agreed,  sir  James  Berners  was  her  father,  her  birth 
could  have  been  very  little  tfter'  1388  ;  for  in  that  year  sir 
James  Berners  was  beheaded,  as  an  enemy  to  the  public, 
together  with  other  favourites  and  corrupt  ministers  of 
king  Richard  the  second.    The  education  of  Juliana  seems 
to  have  been  the  very  best  which  that  age  could  afford,' 
and  her  attainments  were  such,  that  she  is  Celebrated  by 
various  authors  for  her  uncommon  learninnr  and  her  other 
accomplishments^  which  rendered  her  every  way  capable 
and  deserving  of  the  office  she  bore ;  which  was  that  o^ 
prioress  or  Sopewell  nunnery.     This  was  a  cell  to,  and 
very  near  St.  Alban's,  and  a  good  part  of  the  shell  of  it  U 
still  standing.     Here  she  lived  in  high  esteem,  and  flou- 
rished, according  to  Bale,   Tanner,    and  Ballard,   about 
the  year  1460;  butif  what  we  have  said  concerning  her 
birtli  be  the  true  account,  sh^  must  have  flourished  some- 
what earlier.     She  was  a  very  beautiful  lady,    of  great 
spirit,  and  loved  masculine  exercises,  such  as  hawking^ 
hunting,  &c.     With  these  sports  she  used  to  recreate  her- 
self, and  so  thoroughly  was  she  skilled  in  them,  that  she 
wrote  treatises  of  hawking,  hunting,  and  heraldry.    "  Prom 
an  abbess  disposed  to  turn  author,"  says  Mr.  Warton,  "  we 
might  more  reasonably  have  expected  a  manual  of  medita- 
tions for  the  closet,  or  select  rules  for  making  salves,  or 
distilling  strong  waters.     But  the  diversions  of  the  fleld 
were  not  thought  inconsistent  with  the  character  of  a  re- 
ligious lady  of  this  eminent  rank,  who  resembled  an  abbot 
in  respect  of  exercising  an  extensive  manerial  jurisdiction, 
atid  who  hawked  and  hunted"  in  common  with  other  ladies 
of  distinction."     So  well  esteemed  were  Juliana  Berners's 
treatises,  and  indeed  so  popular  were  the  subjects  on  which 
they  were  written,  that  they  were  published  in  the  very 
Infanc'y  of  the  art  of  printing.     The  first  edition  is  said  to 
have  been  printed  at  St.  Alban's,  in  1481.     It  was  cer- 
tainly printed  at  the  same  place  in  1486,  in  a  small  folio ; 
and  again,  at  Westminster,  by  W.  de  Worde,  in  1496,'  in 
4to.     Among  Cryne's  books  in  the  Bodleian  library,  there 
is  a  black  letter  copy  of  this  work,  "  imprynted  at  London 
in  Paul**  Churchy arde  by  me  Hary  Tab."     It  was  again 
printed,  itith  Wooden  cuts,  by  William  Copland,  without 


10<  B  £  R  N  E  R  S; 

date,  and  entitled,  **  The  boke  of  Hawkyng,  Hunting,  and 
Fishing,  with  all  the  properties  and  medecynes  that  are 
necessary  to  be  kepf      Here  the  tract  on  Armory  is 
omitted,  which  seems  to  have  been  first  inserted  that  the 
work  might  contain  a  complete  course  of  education  for  a 
gentleman.     The  same  title  is  in  W.  PoweFs  edition,  1 550. 
The  last  impression  of  it  was  in  4to,  at  London,  in  1595, 
under  the  ioiloWing  title,  "  The  gentleman's  academic : 
or  tiie  book  of  St.  Albans ;  containing  three  most  exact  and 
excellent  books ;  the  first  of  Hawking,  the  second  of  alt  the 
proper  terms  of  Hunting,  and  the  last  of  AAnory ;  all  com* 
piled  by  Juliana  Barnes,  in  the  year  from  the  incarnation  of 
Christ,  1486.     And  now  reduced  into  better  method  by 
G.  M.'*     This  editor  is  certainly  mistaken  in  saying  that 
the  whole  work  was  composed  in  1486.     Juliana  Berners 
could  scarcely  have  been  living  at  that  time  ;  and  even  if 
she  was  not  then  dead,  the  book  must  have  been  written 
by  her  in  a  more  early  period  of  life.     It  is  said,  indeed, 
in   the  Colophon  at  the  end  of  the  St.  Alban's  edition, 
^^  And   here  now  endith  the  Boke  of  blasyng  of  armys, 
translatyt  and    compylyt    togedyr  at  Saynt   Albons  the 
yere    from    thyncarjiacyon   of   our    Lorde  Jhesu    Crist 
MCCCGLXXXVl."     But  all  we  can   justly  infer  from 
hence  is,  that  that  part  of  the  work  which  relates  to  he- 
raldry was  not  drawn  up  by  Juliana  Berners.     It  is  ob- 
servable, that  though  the  whole  treatise  is  usually  ascribed 
•  to  her,  her  name  is  only  subjoined  to  the  book  on  hawking 
and  hunting ;  and  that  what  relates  to  the  biasing  of  arms 
contains  no   more  than  abstracts  from  a  performance  of 
Nicholas  Upton,  written  about  1441.      It  is  highly  pro- 
bable, therefore,  that  this  latter  part,  if  it  was  compiled 
to  late  as  in  1486,  was  added  by  another  hand ;  and,  in- 
deed, if  Juliana  Berners  was  the  daughter  of  sir  Jame^ 
Berners,  there  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  matter.     That 
part  of  our  abbesses  work  which  relates  to  hunting,  is 
written  in  rhyme.     It  is  spoken  in  her  own  person  ;  in 
which,  being  otherwise  a  woman  of  authority,  sheaiiBumes 
the  title  of  Dame.     Mr.  Warton  suspects  the  whole  to  be 
a  translation  from  the  French  or  Latin.     The  barbarism  of 
the  times  strongly  appears  in  the  indelicate  expressions 
which  Juliana  Berners  often  uses^  and  which  are  equally 
incompaiible  with  her  sex  and  profession.     The  book  ou 
armory  begins  with  the  following  curious  piece  of  sacred 
heraldry :  ^*  Of  the  offspring  of  the  gentilman  Jafetb,  conitt 


B  E  R  N  £  it  S.  109 

Habraham,  Moyses,  Aron,  and  the  proFettys;  and  also 
the  kyng  of  the  r^ht  iyiie  oi  Mary,  of  whom  that  gen* 
tilnian  Jhesu»  was  borne,  very  God  and  man  :  after  bis 
manhode  kynge  ofthe  land  ofJude  and  of  Jues,  gentiiman 
by  his  aio.lre  Mary,  pnn^e  of  cote  atmure,  &c  "  The' 
most  diligent  inquirers  have  not  been  able  to  determine 
the  exact  peno^l  of  Juliana  Berner:i*s  decease  ;  but  from 
what  is  mentioned  above,  it  is  probable  that  she  died 
sooner  ti^an  has  commonly  been  imagined. 

The  public  have  been  recently  gratified  with  a  fac-simile 
reprint  of  Julittna  Berners's  curious  work,  as  printeJ  by 
Wynkyn  de  Worde,  preceded  by  a  biographical  and  biblio- 
graptiical  dissertation,  so  copious  and  correct,  as  to  ren- 
der all  subsequent  attempts  superfluous.  Joseph  Haslewood, 
esq.  the  editor,  has  'left  no  sources  unexplored,  and  no 
means  untried,  by  which  light  might  be  thrown  upon  the 
work  or  its  supposed  authoress.  He  is  of  opinion  that  the 
only  parts  of  the  work  which  can  saft^Iy  be  attributed  to  her 
pen,  are:  1.  A  small  portion  of  the  treatise  on  Hawking. 
2.  The  treatise  upon  Hunting.  3.  A  short  list  of  the  beasts 
of  chase :  and,  4.  Another  bhort  one  of  beasts  and  fowls. 
This  fac-simile  edition,  of  which  one  hundred  and  fifty 
copies  only  were  printed,  is  executed  with  uncommon  ac-. 
curacy  and  fidelity,  and  does  high  credit  to  the  taste,  mi-v 
nuie  attention,  and  perseverance  (for  all  are  necessary  }n 
an  attempt  of  this  kind)  displayed  by  the  printer,  Mr.  Jo- 
seph Harding.  At  the  late  sale  of  tbe  library  of  the  duke 
of  Roxburgh,  an  imperfect  copy  of  Wynkyn  de  Worde'a 
edition  was  sold  for  147/.^ 

^  BERN!  (Francis),  called  by  some  writers  Berna  or 
Beknia,  was  one  of  the  most  celebrated  Italian  poets  of 
the  sixteenth  century.  He  was  born  about  the  conclusion 
of  the  fifteenth,  at  Lamporecchio,  in  that  part  of  Tuscany 
called  VaUdi-Nievole,  of  a  noble  but  impoveri^ihed  family 
of  Florence.  In  his  nineteenth  year  he  went  to  home,  to 
his  relation  cardinal  Bibiena,  who  according  to  his  own  ac- 
count, did  him  neither  good  nor  harm.  He  was  then  obliged 
to  take  tbe  ojBBce  of  secretary  to  Giberti,  bishop  of  Verona, 
who  was  datary  to  pope  Leo  X.  On  this  he  assumed  the 
ecclesiastical  habit,  in  hopes  of  sharing  some  of  that  pre- 
late's patronage,  but  the  mean  and  dull  employment  ot  hif 

1  Biog.   Brit.— Mr.  Hatlewood's  reprint.— Dibdin't  Antiquitict,    vol.  II.—- 
JSIIis>  Sp«ciiiifiis«  ToL  1.— Ballard'f  Memoirs.— WanoD>  Hisu  oi  Poetry,  voL 


lOS  B  E  R  N  L 

office  of  secretary,  and  for  which  he  w&s  ill  paid,  was  very 
unsuitable  to  his  dispositioti.  There  was  at  Kome  what  he 
liked  bettet",  a  society  or  academy  of  young  ecclesiastics  a» 
gay  as  himself,  and  lovers  of  wit  and  poetry  like  hin^self, 
who,  no  doiibt  in  order  to  point  out  their  taste  for  wine, 
jtnd  their  thoughtless  habits,  were  called  Vignajuoliy  vine- 
dresiSers.  To  this  belonged  Mauro,  Casa,  Firenzuola,  Ca- 
pilupi^  and  many  others.  In  their  meetings  they  laughed 
at  every  thing,  and  made  verses  and  witticisms  on  the  most 
grave  and  Solemn  subjects.  The  compositions  Berni  con* 
tributed  on  these  occasions,  were  so  superior  to  the  others, 
that  verses  composed  in  the  sam^  style  began  t;o  be  called 
^*  La  poesia  Bernesca/* 

Bertii  was  at  Rome  in  1527,  when  it  was  plundered  by 
the  army  of  the  constable  of  Bourbon,  and  lost  all  he  pos- 
sessed. He  then  travelled  with  his  patron  Giberti  to  Ve- 
irotta,  Venice,  and  Padua,  but  being  tired  of  the  service, 
and  having  no  longer  any  hopes  of  adding  to  a  canonry  in 
the  church  of  Florence,  which  he  had  possessed  someyears^ 
he  retired  to  that  city  with  a  view  to  a  life  of  independence 
tLvkA  moderation.  Here  an  acquaintance  which  he  unhap* 
pily  formed  with  two  great  men  proved  fatal  to  him,  Alex- 
•ander  de  Medici,  duke  of  Florence,  and  the  young  cardinal 
Hippolito  de  Medici,  each  of  whom  is  supposed  to  have 
Contended  with  the  other,  which  should  first  destroy  his 
rival  by  poison.  One  of  them  is  said  to  have  been  desirous 
of  employing  Berni  in  this  detestable  project,  and  he  hav- 
ing refused  his  assistance,  fell  a  victim  to  the  revenge  of 
his  patron,  by  a  death  of  similar  treachery.  The  cardinal  ^ 
certainly  died  in  1535,  and,  according  to  all  historians,  by 
poison.  The  death  of  Berni  is  fixed  on  July  26,  1535, 
from  which  long  interval  it  has  been  thought  improbable 
that  the  duke  Alexander  would  have  caused  him  to  be  poi- 
soned, for  not  having  concurred  in  the  destruction  of  a 
rival  who  had  been  dead  probably  a  year ;  but  there  is 
nothing  in  the  character  of  Alexander  to  make  us  think  he 
would  scruple  at  this  additional  crime,  and  that  for  a  veiry 
good  reason,  to  get  rid  of  one  who  was  privy  to  his  design 
tipon  the  cardinal. 

Berni's  character  was  in  all  respects  a  singular  one,  but  . 
in  few  deserving  imitation.     His  morals  as  well  as  his  writ* 
ings  were  of  the  licentious  cast,  and  as  to  his  manners,  in« 
dolence  seemed  to  predominate.     He  had  no  pleasure  in 
music,  dancing,  gaming,  or  hunting :  his  sole  delight  was 


tB.E.Il.;Nl.  «« 

in  b^idxig  not^iipg  to  ^pi  ai>d  stret^ing  ^iatt^^f  at  fviU :  lexifth 
on  his  bed*    ^is  cbi^f  e%j^vc\se  wa^  to  eat  a  Mttl^  and  then 
compose  him^lf  to  sl^ep,  s^d  after,  sl^p^  to  q^n/t  again. 
He  observed  nqither  days  iipr  almanack^.;  and  bis  sforvanta 
were  ordered  to  br^ig  him  no  nfsw&  vt^betb^r  gppd  or  bad*. 
That  be  was  not,  however,  so  ^Qt^rely  deypted  to  indolence^ 
as  we  might,  froca  tb^  ch^racte^r .  wJ^iicb  b0  has  chosen  to 
give  of  liimself^  be  iodjuced  to  beiliev^,  sufficiently  appears 
from  l^s  numerous  writings,  and  particularly  from  his  hav- 
ing reformed  and  nen^-modeU^d .  the  extensive  poem  of 
**  Orlapdo  Inqamorato*'  of  tliexount  Bojardo. .  This  work 
he  is  said  to  have  undertaken  in  competition  with  the 
*^  Orlando  Furioso'*  of  Ariosto,  which  has  giv^n  occasioa 
to  accuse  Bemi  of  presumption  and  Qf  ignorance,;  but 
Berni  was  too  well  acquainted  with  the  n$iture  of  bis  owa 
talents,  calculated  only  for  the  burlesque  wd  ridiculous^ 
to  suppose  that  he  could  rival  Ariosto.     He  has,  however, 
both  in  this  and  in  other  parts  of  his  writings,  shewn  thai 
he  could  occasionally  elevate  his  style;  and  the  introductory 
verses  to  each  canto  of  the  Orlando  Innamorato,  which  ara 
generally  his  own  composition,  are  not  the  least  admired 
nor  the  least  valuable  parts  of  the  work.     That  tlie,  altera- 
tions of  Berni  raised  the  poem  of  Bojardo  into  more  gene- 
ral notice,  may  be  conjectured  from  the  various  editiona 
of  the  refcH'med  work,  which  issued  from  the  pres$  soon 
after  its  first  appearance,  and  which  are  yet  sought  after 
with  avidity.     Some  of  these  editions  are,  that  of  Venice, 
1541,  4to;  of  Milan,  1542,  Svo ;  and  Venice  with  addi- 
tions, 1545,  4to;  which  last  is  in  great  request    There 
are  two  very  correct  modern  edition^ ;  that  of  Naples^  but 
dated!  Florence,  1725,  and  that  by  Molini,  Paris,  1768, 
4  vols.  12mo.     Berni's  other  works  are,   1.  ^' Rime  bur- 
lescbe,"  often  reprinted  with  those  of  Casa,  Mauro,  Molza, 
and  other  poets  of  the  same  class.     The  first  edition  is  that 
of  Venice,  1538,  8vo.  .  Another  valuable  edition  is  that  of 
Grazzini,  called  Lasca,  in  2  vols.  Florence,  1548,  and  1555, 
8vo.    This  last  volume  is  the  most  rare,  being  printed  only 
once,  and  the  other  twice.     2.  ^^  La  Catrina,  atto  scenico 
rusticale,''  Florence,  1567,  8vo,  written  in  the  cpmmou 
dialect  of  the  peasantry  of  Tuscany,  like  the  "  Nencia'*  of 
Barberino,  the  "  Cecco"  of  Varlongo,  &c.     It  was  after- 
wards printed  in  a  collection  of  comedtes  of  the  sixteenth 
century,   Naples,  1731,   8vo.     3.  "  Carmina,"    or    Latin 
poems,  to  be  found  in  the  <^  Carmina  quinque  Etruscorum 


110  BlE  R  N  I. 

■  a  -  • 

paetaram,'*  Florence,  1562,  8vo,  and  in  the  "Carmina 
iUustrium  poetarum  Icaiorum/'  ibid,  17 19,  8vo. ' 

BEKNI  (Count  Francis),  a  lawyer,  philosopher,  orator, 
and.  poet,  of  Ferrara,  was  born  in  1610.  After  having  pur- 
sued bift  studies  with  great  soccess,  and  taken  his  law  de« 
grees,  in  the  university  of  his  native  city,  he  was  chosen 
professor  of  the  belles  lettres,  then  first  secretary,  and  in 
that  quality  was  sent  to  compliment  pope  Innocent  X-  on 
his  election  to  the  papal  chair.  He  lived  in  considerable 
favour  with  that  pope,  as  well  as  with  AiexanJer  VII.  and 
Clement  IX.  his  successors,  and  ths  dukes  of  Mantua, 
Charles  t.  and  II.  who  conferred  upoti  him  the  title  of 
Count.  His  poetical  talents  were  principally  devoted  to 
the  drama ;  and  one  of  his  plays  '^  Gli  Sforzi  del  Desiderio,'* 
represented  at  Ferrara  in  1652,  was  so  successful,  that  the 
archduke  Ferdinand  Charles,  struck  with  its  popularity, 
no  sooner  returned  home  than  he  sent  for  the  author  and 
some  architects  from  Ferrara,  to  build  two  theatres  for  si- 
miiar  representations.  Berni  was  married  seven  times, 
and  ha  i,  as  migiit  be  expected,  a  numerous  family,  of 
whpiu  nine  sous  and  daughters  survived  him.  He  died 
Oct.  13,  1673.  Eleven  of  his  dramas,  formerly  published 
separately,  were  printed  in  one  volume,  at  Ferrara,  1666, 
l42n)o.  He  published  also  a  miscellany  of  discourses,  pro- 
blems, &c.  entitled  <<  Accademia,'*  Ferrara,  2  vols.  4to, 
without  date,  and  reprinted  iu  1658.  Many  of  his  lyric 
poems  are  in  the  collections.  * 

BERNIEtt  (Francis)  was  distinguished  in  the  brilliant 
age  of  Louis  XIV.  as  a  philosopher  and  traveller,  and  his 
merit,  in  both  respects,  was  enhanced  by  his  personal  ac- 
complishments, which  proctired  him  a  degree  of  celebrity 
when  living,  that  has  not  yet  perished.  His  treatises  on 
philosophy,  it  is  true,  are  no  longer  read,  for  which  the 
progress  of  science  since  the  seventeenth  century  may  ac- 
count, but  his  voyages  and  travels  are  still  in  high  estima- 
tion. They  made  the  wopid  acquainted  with  countries 
which  no  European  had  before  visited,  and  none  have 
since  described  so  well,  and  threw  light  on  the  revolutions 
of  India  at  a  very  interesting  period,  the  time  of  Aureng- 
Zeb.  George  Forster  places  Bernier  in  the  first  class  of 
Indian  historians,  praises  his  simple  and  engaging  style, 

>  Bios.  tTDiTeneUe.— Roicoe't  Leo.-«BaUlet  Jofemem  des  SaTaof.— Moreru 
*  Biog.  Uuiylrfelle. 


BE  R  N  I  E  R.  Ill 

his  judgment  afnd  his  accuracy;  and  the  letter  in  which 
Forsier  bestows  this  encomium  was  written  from  Cache- 
mire,  which  Bemier  has  so  well  described.  Bernier  lived 
in  intimacy  with  the  most  illustrious  characters  of  bis  time, 
and  ^as  particularly  intimate  with  the  celebrated  Ninon 
de  Lenclos,  madame  de  la  Sa,bliere,  Chapelte,  whose  eloge 
he  wrote,  and  St.  Evremont,  who  represents  him  as  deserv- 
^^Sy  ^y  ^^^  ^"^  figure,  manners  and  conversation,  the  tstle 
of  the  Genteel  Philosopher.  He  assisted  Boileau  in  fabri- 
cating a  burlesque  decree  in  favour  of  Aristotle,  which  the 
president  Lamoignon  had  almost  signed,  when  he  saw 
through  the  joke,  and  candidly  confessed  that  it  had  pre- 
vented him  from  signing  a  decree  that  would  have  been 
fully  as  ridiculous. 

.  Bernier  was  born  at  Angers,  but  in  what  year  is  not 
known.  He  first  studied  medicine,  and  took  a  doctor's 
degree  at  Montpellier,  and  then  began  to  indulge  his  taste 
for  travelling.  In  1654,  he  went  to  Syria,  and  thence  to 
Egypt.  After  remaining  more  than  a  year  at  Grand  Cairo, 
he  was  attacked  by  the  plague,  but  embarked  some  time 
after  at  Suez,  for  India,  where  he  resided  twelve  year% 
eight  of  them  as  physician  to  the  emperor  Aureng  Zeb. 
The  favourite  minister  of  that  prince,  the  emir  Danich- 
mend,  a  friend  of  science  and  literature,  patronized  him, 
and  took  him  to  Cachemire.  On  his  return  Bernier  pub« 
lished  his  voyages  and  philosophical  works.  In  1685  he 
visited  England,  and  died  at  Paris,  Sept.  22,  1688.  Hit 
works  are,  1.  <^  Histoire  de  la  derniere  revolution  des  etats 
du  Grand-Mogul,  &c.'*  4  vols.  1670,  1671,  12mo.  Thii 
work  procured  him.  the  name  of  the  Mogul.  It  has  been 
often  reprinted  under  the  title  of  "Voyages  de  Francoii 
Bernier,  &c.'*  and  translated  into  English,  1671,  1675, 
"8vo.  2.  **  Abreg6  de  la  philosophie  de  Gassendi,"  Lyons, 
1678,  8  vols.  12mo,  and  1684,  7  vols.  His  own  philoso«- 
phy  inclines  to  the  Epicurean.  3.  V  Memoire  sur  le  quie* 
iisme  des  Indes ;"  "  Extraits  de  diverses  pieces  envoy6e« 
pour  etrennes  par  M.  Bernier  a  Madame  de  la  Sabliere,'^ 
And  '*  Eloge  de  M.  Chapelle,''  inserted  in  the  Journal  de 
Savans,  1688.  4.  "  Trait6  du  libre  etdu  volontaire,"  Amst. 
1-685,  12010,  and  some  other  papers  in  the  literary  Jour* 
nals.* 

^  Biof .  UaiTerselle.— <3ta'.  Diet— Moreri* 


lia  B  E  R  N  I  E  K. 

BERNIEE  (John),  a  physicis^n,  bom  in  1622/ at  Bloi;^ 
ivhere  be  practised  foe  tweiity-eigbt  years,  and  afterv^rd« 
fit  Pari^,  hs^^  the  title  of  Physician  tp  Madaoie.  He  wrote, 
I.  "  A  bi^tQ^'y  of  Blois,"  Paris,  1682,  4tQ,  very  inaccurate 
in  the  opinipn  pf  Lirgiii.  2.  ^*  Medical  Essays,'^  163SS  4tQ« 
3.  ^*  Anti-Meqagiana,'*  1693,  l2mo.  4.  "  Critique  on  tho 
Works  of  Rabelais,"  Paris,  1697,  12inp,  full  of  verbosity 
s^iid  false  wit.  His  rank  of  physician  to  Madame  did  not 
rescue  him  from  poverty,  and  bis  disappointments  gave 
blip  a  strong  tincture  of  chagrin  and  melancholy,  which  is 
manifest  in  a^U  his  writings.  His  erudition  Was  extremely 
superficial,  but  he  talked  incessantly*  Menage  used  tQ 
l»y  that  he  ought  to  talk  well,  for  he  did  nothing  else^  but, 
added  he,  Bernier  is  mr  levis  aryiiatune.  He  died  May  \% 
J698. » 

BERNIER  (Nicholas),  an  eminent  musician  and  com? 
poser,  was  born  at  Mante  on  the  Seine,  in  1664.  By  his 
luerit  in  his  profession  he  attained  to  be  conductor  of  the 
music  in  th^  chapel  of  St.  Stephen,  and  afterwards  in  that 
of  the  king*  The  regent  duke  of  Orleai!is  admired  his 
lyorksy  and  patronized  their  author.  This  prince  having 
given  him  a  motet  of  his  own  composition  to  examine,  and 
being  impatient  for  his  observations  thereon,  went  to  the 
hoi^se  of  Bernier,  and  entering  his  study,  found  the  abb^ 
de  la  Croix  there  criticising  his  piece,  while  the  musician 
himself  was  in  another  room  carousing  and  singing  with  a 
pompany  of  his  friends.  The  duke  broke  in  upon  and  in-- 
^errupted  their  mirth,  with  a  reprimand  of  Bernier  for  his 
^na^tentipn  to  the  task  assigned  him.  This  musician  died 
^t  Paris  in  1734.  His  five  books  of  Cantatas  and  Songs 
for  one  and  two  voices,  the  words  of  Which  were  written 
by  Rousseau  and  Fuselier,  have  procured  him  great  reputa- 
tion. There  are  besides,  of  his  composition,  ^^  Les  Nuits 
d^  Sceaux,''  and  many  motets,  which  are  still  much  ap- 
proved of.  *  , 

BERNINI  (John  Laurence),  called  the  Cavalier  Ber- 
K-iN,  and  by  some  styled  the  modern  Michael  Angelo,  be- 
cause he  united  thb  knowledge  and  practice  of  painting^ 
statuary,  and  architecture,  owes  his  extensive,  reputation 
principally  to  his  excellence  in  the  latter  branch.     Hjs 

>  Bioff.  Universelle.— Moreri. — Diet  Hist, 
s  fiief .  UoivcrteUe,— Diet.  Hifft. 


B  E  tt  N  I  N  L  tii 

kAti  l^€t€T  Bernini,  }0ft  ^TvtBcauf  wfa(Sn  ycmitff^  tki^  ##M 
ldrRo«ie  to  dtudy  paintkig  and  liculptiAi^.  Haying  alcqtlired 
•(msklefable  ^kiH  in  both,  ke  removed  id  NApled,  and  pra^i 
filled  with  great  succei^!(.  Therein  1598^  hh  stii,  tfaesnb^ 
j^f  df  thisr  ni^emoir,  was  bofn^  athd  frbiti  hit^  ^'riiest  yt^ri 
iistovered  al  surprising  capacity  for  the  fine  nit%  bavrfig  srf 
the  age  of  eight  executed  a  head  in  ma^Me,  Which  Mvsti 
doni^idei^ed  as  a  prodigy.  His*  fETther,  deiii^oos  of  ^dti^ 
fHfift^  m  promising  a  g^niu^,  brdtigfct  Mm  to^  Rome,  ivfd 
Jaiparted  to  him  a  taste  for  the  greaf  ttiastei's^'  wbicb'  h^ 
ttvet  altogether  lost,  dthough  in  thef  sequeT  be  Aid  iicA 
follow  their  tra<;k.  The  pope  expressed'  k'  d^ire  to  si^^ 
Ais  extraiOfdi'Aary  child  who  had  astotish^d  tht  artist.  atM 
#hen  introduced,  asked  him  if  he  knew  how  to  i^ketcb  i 
head,---<<  Whose  head  ?''  said  Berriini.--"  You^  know  iBk€j!i 
tKf^  to  drftw  any  5  tet  it  be  tbA«  of  St  Paul/*  t^pli4id  th# 
pope.  The  boy  performed^  tibe  task  be^re  hiih  in  abbnt 
half  ati-  hbuy,  a(nd  the  pope,  ehehsLnted^  with  the  specimenl 
#ecbiiiittended  him  wailnty  to  cardinal  Barberinj,  that  cele^ 
Irated  ^ron  of  the  arts.  «  Drrect  his  stndiesi,'*  added  HQ 
AoKnesB,  **  atid  he  will  becoiiM  the  Michael  A'tlgelo  oi^  the 
Ibge.''^  About  the  ^ame  time,-  ba^pening  to  be  in  St.  Pe^i 
%t^s  church,  with  Annibal  Car^^h^^  and  sotne  6l£^er  odf^i 
brated  artists^  Garrache,  looking  to  the  cupola,  saM'  it  wdtild 
be  very  desirable  to  find  a  man  of  genius  great  enough  id 
lorm  and  erect  two  objects-  in  the  middle,  and  at  the  eiid 
tf  tbat  temple,  which  should  correspond  to  ife  diraenfsibnsi'^ 
The  young  Bernini  instat^tly  excliatimed  wkh  eiltbu^iaintt; 
^*'Would  I  were  that  man,"  little  thinking  thsrt^ohe  day  he 
#a8  t6  fulfil  Carrache's  wish. 

One  of  Bernini's  first  works  w^i^  a  portfaJtm  riJiVMe  of 
Ike  prelate  Montajo,  a  likeness  sb  sitt-iking,  tlntt  it  ^i 
laid  fo  be  Montajo  petrified.  Hie  afterwards  mtfdt;  busttf 
^the  pbpe^  some  of  the  cardinals^  and  sothe  la¥g^  figtrrei/ 
aA%¥  nature ;  a  St.  Laurence,  a  groupe  ef  MntA  M&  Att^ 
cbisesj  aiid  Datid  about  16  sling  the  s^ht  at  GbliatB,  of 
#ht<Hi'OQr  gfeat  artist  sit'  Joshua  Reyn6ldrf.o*ta(*rve^,  thaif 
Bernini  has  given  a  very  mean  eipre^sion  to  DkiitJ,  I'eptc?-** 
ifenting  him  a^  biting  his  unddr  Up,  which  is  hV  from  bein^ 
a?  ge^erai  expression,  and  sfiH  farther  frontf  being  digni^* 
fi*d;  btit  BeHiini,  who  was  as  yet  young,  ihijghti  haVe  s^etf 
it  iii  6iie^  or  two  instances,*  ahd  mistook  accident' it>r  gehe*' 
rtKtyl  fte' wus  but  in  his  eighteenth  year  when  he  ex^-?* 
N    Gtj^kfi  his  A^oUa  a^d'  S^^pbtne,  a  work,  from  \thicfa>  as*  sir 

Vol.  V.  r 


114  BERNINI. 

Joshua  remarks,  the  world  justly  expected  he  would  riral 
]fhe  best  productioos  of  ancient  Greece,  but  this  was  not 
iiltiaiately  the  case. '  ^  We  are  told,  however,  that  when, 
about  the  close  of  his  life,  he  surveyed  this  groupe,  he 
allowed  that  since  that  time  he  had  made  very  litt)e  prQ^ 
gress.  In  truth  his  style  was  now  more  pure,  and  had  less 
pf  mannej^  in  it  than  afterwards. 

His  success  in  the  mean  time  was  great,  and  Gregory 
^y.  who  succeeded  Paul  V.  being  equally  struck  with  his 
pierit,  created  him  a  knight;  but  it  was  left  for  cardinal 
Barberini^  when  he  came  to  the  pontificate,  to  complete 
Bernini's  good  fortune.  Immediately  after  that  event  he 
said  to  Bernini,  ^^  If  you  are  happy  to  see  me  pope,  I  am 
more  proud  yet  that  you  live  under  my  pontificate,^'  and 
from  that  time  began  to  employ  him  in  designs  for  emrbel* 
lishing.  Ri^ne,  and  gave  him  a  pension  of  thr^e  hundred 
crowns  per  month.  Without  altogether  quitting  statuary, 
therefore,  Bernini  now  employed  his  talents  on  arghitec- 
ture,  and  recollecting  Carrache's  wish,  he  designed  the 
panopy  for  the  principal  altar,  called  the  confessional  of 
St.  Peter,  supported  by  four  wreathed  columns,  (enriched 
with  figi^res  and  ornaments  of  exquisite  taste.  When  tliis 
inagijiiticent  work  was  completed,  in  about  nine  ye^rs,  the 
pope  rewarded  him  with  six  thousand  crowns,  besides  in- 
creasing his  pensions,  and  extending  his  liberality  to  Ber-  , 
nini's  brothers.  Another  work  of  his  was  the  fountain  of 
Barcaccia,  which  has  been  praised  more  than  it  merits,-  at 
least  it  is  inferior  to  that  of  the  Barberini  palace. 

It  would  be  perhaps  tedious  to  enumerate  all  tlie  produc- 
tions of  Bernini's  genius  at  this  time,  but  the  following  are 
the  principal :  the  Barberini  palace  ;  the  campanile. of  St. 
Ipeter ;  the  model  of  the  tomb  of  the  countess  Matilda, 
which. was  executed  by  his  pupils;  and  that  of  his  bene- 
factor pope  Urban  VIII.  When  his  reputation  reached . 
.  England,  Charles  j^  was  desirous  of  having  a  bust  of  h^m«* 
sejf  by  an  artist  of -si^ch  eminenef ,  and  sent  him  three  por- 
traits by  Vandyke  of  different  positions.  By  this  means 
Bernini  was  enabled  to  make  an  excellent  likeness^  with, 
which  the  king  was  so  pleased  that  he  took  from  his  finger 
a  diamond  ring  valued  at  six  thousand  crowns,  and  sent  it 
tp  Bernini  to  adorn  the  hand  that  could  perform  such  won- 
ders. About  the  same  time  an  Englishman  came  to  Italy, 
and  had  his  bust  executed  by  our  artist,  for  which  he  also 
p^^d  six  thousand  crowns.    The  bust  of  Charles  L  was  ori- 


»t 


BERNINI.  Ill 

* 

ginally  placed  in  Greenwich  ho^ital,  but  is  now  in  West- 
miaster  hall,  in  a  circular  recess  over  the  stairs^  leading  to 
the  chancellor's  chamber,  between  the  court  of  chancery 
tod  that  of  the  king's  bench,  yet  it  is  doubted  whether  this 
be  really  Bernini's  celebrated  bust,  or  only  one  taken  from 
it.  Vertue  was  of  opinion  that  the  bust  now  existing  was 
of  an  eiarlier  date,  and  that  Bernini's  was  destroyed  during 
the  civil  war. 

In  1644,  cardinal  Mazarin,  who  had  knoivn  Bernini  at 
Rome,  endeai^oured,  but  in  vain,  to  induce  him  to  visit 
France,  and  offered  him,  oh  the  part  of  Louis  XIV.  places 
to  the  value  of  12,000  crowns.  Yet  he  was  not  happy  at 
home.  When  Urban  YIII.  his  steady  patron,  died,  and 
Innocent  X.  succeeded,  envy  at  his  superior  talents  and 
high  favour  with  the  pontiff,  began  to  appear.  The 
campanile  vi^ich  he  had  constructed  for  St  Peter's,  over 
the  portico,  whicb  it  appeared  was  not  on  a  secure  founda- 
tion, threatened  to  fall,  and  immediately  it  was  indus« 
triously  reported  that  the  weight  of  the  campanile  would' 
endanger  the  portic^,  and  perhaps  even  the  dome  itself. 
Although  all  this  was  exaggerated,  it  became  necessary  to  re- 
move tha  campanile,  and  the  enemies  of  Beniini  tridmphed, 
while  the  pope,  prejudiced  against  him,  deprived  him  of  one 
part  of  his  labours,  and  allowed  the  rest  to  be  suspended.' 
In  the  mean  time  he  executed  for  the  church  of  St.  Mary 
the  fine  groupe  bf  St.  Theresa  and  the  angel,  one  of  his 
iffiost  admired  works ;  and  became  at  length  a  favourite 
with  the  pope  by  a  stratagem  of  his  ho(iness's  nephew. 
The  pope,  having  an  intention  of  building  a  new  fountain 
in  the  piazza  Navona,  consulted  all  the  artists  of  Rome, 
with  the  exception  of  Bernini,  whom  he  affected  to  forget ; 
but  bis  nephew  prince  Ludovisi  having  procured  a  model 
from  our  artist,  contrived  to  shew  it  to  the  pope,  who  was 
so  much  struck  with  it,  as  to  receive  Bernini  into  favour, 
and  appoint  him  to  the  work,  which  he  executed  with  his 
usual  taste.  About  the  same  time  he  built  the  palace  of 
Monte  Citorio. 

Alexander  YII.  who  succeeded  pope  Innocent  X.  and 
who  had  a  high  respect  for  Bernini,  and  was  au  encoura|^et 
of  the  arts,  requested  him  to  make  a  design  for  the  further 
decoration  of  St.  Peter's,  which  produced  the  celebrated 
<^ircular  colonnade,  so  appropriate  to  the  building  as  to 
seem  part  of  the  scheme  of  the  original  architect.  He 
was  not,  however,  so  successful  in  the  composition  6f  th#L 

12 


U9  BERNINI. 

I  4 

pulpit  of  St.  Peter\  ^uppoirted  by  colossal  figures  irepre* 
^nti^g  t!^e  four  doctors  of  tb^  cborcb,  which,  aUhough 
^tered  from  bis  first  model,  has  neither  tbe  freedom  oqr 
ipirit  of  bi«  other  works ;  among  whicb  may  now  be  eou^ 
piflirated  the  Qdecbalehi  palace,  the  rotunda. of  St  BJtccio, 
and  tbe  noviciate  of  tbe  Jesuits  at  Monte  Cavailo. 

jA^ltfaougb  he  had  refused  to  come  to  France,  Louts  XIV« 
was  still  desirous  to  avail  himself  of  his  talents,  as  well  as 
^  pay  him  a  compUmenJt,  by  consulting  him  oa  tbe  reato- 
lation  of  tbe  Louvre.     His  miaisier,  Colbert,,  aeeordingty 
^fiant  biin  the  plans  of  ^at  palaee^  sad  requested  htm  to  put 
9jj>on  pa^er  ^*  s^me.  of  those  admirable  thoughts  which  waere 
so  ^miliar  to.  bim.''     Berpiui  tmmediateiy  made  a  sketch 
iox  the  new  baiiding,  which  afforded  so  miMh.satisfaetioii 
to  thie  king,  that^ be  wrote  to.infoj^m  him  of  the  very  great 
4esUe  he  ha4  to  s^e,  and  become  acquainted,  with  so 
iilusArious  a  character,   provided  this  d^d    not  interfere 
with  bis  e^agagements  to  the  pope,  or  hk  personal  com^ 
ifenience.     Such  condesc^ision.  our  artist  could  no  k>ngei 
r^ist;  and  although  now  in  his  sixty-eighth  year,  departed 
from  Romte>  in  1665,  with  oae  of  bis  sons,  two  of  his 
pupils,  and  a. numerous  suite.     No  arlust  ever  travelled 
with  so  much  pomp  or  pleasure.    AU  the  princes  through 
whose  dominions  he  passed  loaded  him  with  presents.     In 
Fraace  he  W9»  received  and  complimented,  by  the  magia-* 
t^rates  at  tbe  gates  of  each  city,  and  that  even  at  Lyons, 
where  it.  was  customary  to  restrict  such  a  compliment  to 
princes  of  the  blood  only..    As  he  appvoaohed  Paris,  the 
king's  nmiir^  (V hotel  was  seat  to  meet  him,  with  ioatruc- 
tlQDs  to  d/)  tha  honours  of  receiving,  him  and  conductiii|f 
him  every  where.     This  gentleman,  M.  de  €hauteloo,  wa* 
SQ  sensible  of  the  importance  of  bis  eomiiHsaioafty  that  be 
wrote  a  journal  of  alt  his  proceedings  while  ia  ampanyi 
with  Berniui,  a  curious  work  still  preserved,  in.  mamiscript* 
Oa  bis  arrival,  our  artist  was  conducted  to.  a  hotel  prepared 
for  him,  and  where  Colbert  visited  him  m  representative 
of  tbe  king,  to  whom  he  was  afterwards  introduced  at  St^ 
QeiHaaains,  received  wilh  great  honour,,  had  a  long,  coaver- 
sation  with  the  kiiig,  and,,  as.  well  as  his  son,,  was  admitted 
to  the  minister'a  table* 

Bernim  now  began  bis  operations  on.  the  Louvre,  bnt  he» 
di^d  not  see,  as  has  been  reported,  .Pernuilt's  celebrated 
GolQnn^d^  the  d^ign  of  which  was  not  presented  to  the 
untU  aftef  his.  depactuse,  qos  was  it  finished  until  fii» 


BERNINI.  117 

ytEts  nfter,  so  that  die  surprize  with  which  it  Li  said  t6 
have  struck  him,  and  the  liberal  praise  he  bestowed  tipii^h 
it,  to  which  Voltaire  has  given  currency  in  his  poems^  at% 
fouiided  on  a  mistake.  During  Bernini's  five  months  resi^ 
dence  at  Paris,  he  laid  the  foundation,  from  his  own  de^ 
sign,  of  the  colonnade  of  the  Louvre,  which  was  to  joth  it 
t&  the  Tuileries  by  a  gallery  ;  but  as  this  could  have  beeti 
executed  only  by  destroying  all  that  had  been  already  buih, 
Pe^^rault's  plan  was  afterwards  adopted.  Tti  the  mean  time, 
t^  made  a  bust  of  Louis  XIV.  who  frequently  sat  to  hifAy 
ind  took  pleasure  in  his  conversation,  which  sometimes 
appears  to  have  been  rather  familiar.  One  day  after  hi& 
majesty  had  sat  a  whole  hour,  the  artist,  delighted  with  sd 
great  an  honour,  exclaimed  ^'  A  miracle  !  a  great  monal!>chy 
young,  and  a  Frenchman,  has  sat  quiet  for  an  hour!^ 
Another  time,  wishing  to  see  mort  of  the  king's  forehead, 
he  put  back  the  curls  of  hair  which  covered  the  place,  and 
said,  **  Your  majesty  can  shew  your  face  to  all  the  world;*' 
and  the  courtiers,  always  intent  upon  some  frivolous  com^ 
jdiment,  made  a  fashion  of  this  disposition  of  die  hair, 
which  they  called  **  la  coeffure  i  la  Bemin'* 

Bernini,  however,  was  not  wholly  reconciled  to  his  er- 
rand here.  The  great  work  for  which  he  came  was  not 
carried  on  after  bis  designs,  and  he  is  said  to  have  met 
with  some  disgust,  which  inclined  him  to  return  to  Rome. 
Accordingly,  on  pretence  that  the  pope  required  his  pre** 
sence,  he  took  leave  of  the  king,  who  made  him  a 
present  of  ten  thousand  crowns,  and  settled  a  pension  on 
him  of  two  thousand,  and  another  of  four  hundred  on  his 
son.  The  expenses  of  his  return  were  also  defrayed  by  his 
majesty,  who,  with  a  view  to  immortalize  the  visit,  caused 
a  medal  to  be  struck,  with  a  portrait  of  the  artist,  and  o^ 
the  reverse  the  muses  of  his  art,  with  this  inscription, 
"  Singularis  in  singulis,  in  omnibus  unicus?"^  Before  his 
departure,  Bernini  engaged  to  make  an  equestrian  status 
of  Louis  XIV.  in  marble,  and  of  colossal  proportion,  which 
he  finished  in  four  years ;  but  whether  from  its  having  no 
resemblance  of  the  king,  or  from  some  fault  found  with 
the  composition,  it  was,  soon  after  its  arrival,  changed  into 
Curtius  leaping  into  the  gulph,  and  is  now  in  the  gar* 
dens  at  Versailles. 

On  his  return  to  Rome,  he  was  received  with  the  great- 
est demonstrations  of  joy,  and  the  pope  appointed  his  son 
canoa  of  St.  Maria  Maggiore^  and  gave  him  several  bene*^ 


118  BERNINI. 

{fices.  Cardinal  Rospigliosi  having  become  pope  by  the 
title  of  Clement  IX.  Bernini  was  admitted  into  his  favour, 
and  employed  in  several  works,  particularly  the  embellish- 
ment of  the  bridge  of  St.  Angelo,  and  when  he  Had  at- 
tained his  seventieth  year,  he  executed  one  of  bis  master- 
pieces, the  tomb  of  Alexander  Y II.  At  the  age  of  eighty, 
.he  made  a  beautiful  demi-figure  in  bas-relief,  for  Christina 
queen  of  Sweden,  of  our  Saviour.  Being  even  after  this 
engaged  on  some  architectural  works,  particularly  the  re- 
pairs of  the  old  palace  of  the  chancery,  he  applied  himself 
with  so  much  zeal  and  ardour,  as  to  injure  his  health.  He 
became  restless  and  weak,  and  at  length  totally  exhausted, 
dying  Nov.  28,  1680,  in  the  eighty-second  year  of  his 
age.  He  was  interred  in  the  church  of  St.  Maria  Maggiore, 
with  great  pomp.  By  his  will,  he  left  to  the  pope  a  large 
painting  of  our  Saviour,  executed  by  himself  when  he 
practised  that  art  formerly ;  and  to  the  queen  of  Sweden, 
the  piece  of  sculpture  we  have  just  mentioned,  which  her 
majesty  had  refused  before,  thinking  she  could  not  afford 
to  pay  for  it.  He  left  to  his  children  a  statue  of  Truth, 
and  a  fortune  of  409,000  Roman  crowns. 

Bernini  was  of  an  ordinary  person  and  dark  complexion  ; 
his  face  indicated  genius ;  his  look  was  lively  and  sprightly, 
but  strongly  expressive,  when  in  anger.  Although  of  a 
fiery  temperament,  he  could  not  bear  the  rays  of  the  sun 
without  being  incommoded.  His  health  was  very  delicate 
until  he  arrived  at  his  fortieth  year,  but  after  that  it  ap- 
peared confirmed,  and  he  bore  the  greatest  fatigrues  of 
body  and  mind,  without  being  vbited  by  any  illness, .  dur« 
ing  the  whole  of  his  long  life.  In  his  diet  he  was  tem- 
perate, except  in  the  article  of  fruit.  He  spoke  guardedly 
of  the  works  of  other  artists,  and  with  great  modesty  of  his 
own.  Of  the  antique  statues  he  gave  the  preference  to  the 
Laocoon,  and  to  the  Torso ;  and  used  thus  to  class  the 
great  painter9,  Raphael,  Corregio,  Titian,  Annib&l  Car- 
rache,  &p. 

As  an  artist,  altliough  he  must  ever  stand  high,  yet  his 
reputation  did  not  increase  with  his  years.  He  was  of 
ppinion  that  in  order  to  be  distinguished,  the  artist  must 
place  himself  above  all  rules,  and  strike  out  a  new  path  for 
himself,  and  this  he  certainly  did  in  some  degree,  but  his 
success  was  neither  uniform  nor  permanent.  But  his  own 
confessions,  when  at  the  close  of  life  he  reviewed  bis 
works,  are  sufficient  to  silence  all  critticism.    He  then  dis- 


B  E  R  N  I  N  I.  11& 

coiFcred  that  in  endeavouring  to  remove  from  his^mind  the 
restraint  of  rules,  and  all  imitation  of  the  antique  and  of 
nature,  he  fell  into  a  manner ;  that  he  mistook  facility  of 
execution  for  the  inspiration  of  genius,  and  that  in  endea- 
vouring to  heighten  the  expression  of  the  graceful,  he  be- 
came affected,  and  encumbered  beauty  with  a  superfluity 
of  ornament.  In  the  mean  time,  however,  the  vast  ioflu* 
ence  of  his  name  produced  many  imitators,  and  his  merit, 
great  as  it  may  still  be  seen  in  his  existing  works,  was  ra- 
ther unfavourable  to  the  advancement  of  the  arts.  The 
memoirs  of  Charles  Perrault,  published  in  1759,  contain 
many  curious  particulars  of  Bernini.  ^ 

BERNIS  (Francis  Joachim  de  Pierres),  count  of 
Lyons,  and  a  cardinal  and  statesman  of  France,  was  bom 
at  Marcel  del'Ardeche,  May  22,  1715,  of  a  noble  and 
ancient  family,  but  not  very  rich  ;  which  circumstance 
induced  his  friends  to  bring  him  up  to  the  church,  as  the 
most  likely  profession  in  which  he  might  rise.  In  this  they 
were  not  disappointed^  as  he  gradually  attained  the  highest 
ecclesiastical  dignities.  When  young  he  was  placed  at 
the  seminary,  of  St?  Sulpice  in  Paris,  and  after,  remaining 
there  some  years,  he  appeared  in  the  world  with  every 
personal  accomplishment  that  could  introduce  |iim  into 
notice ;  but  his  morals  appear  to  have  been  for  some  time 
an  obstruction  ta  promotion.  The  cardinal  de  Fleury, 
then  prime-minister,  who  had  the  patronage  of  all  favours, 
and  who  had  promised  him  his  countenance,  thinking  him 
of  a  spirit  too  worldly  for  the  church,  sent  for  him  and 
gave  him  a  lecture  on  his  dissipated  conduct,  concluding 
with  these  words  :  *^  You  can  have  no  expectations  of  pro- 
motion, while  I  live,'*  to  which  the  young  abb^  Bernis, 
making  a  profound  bow,  replied,  "Sir,  I  can  wait!" 
Some  think  this  bon  moty  which  became  very  current,  was 
not'Oiriginal ;  but  it  is  certain  that  Bernis  remained  for  a 
long  while  in  a  state  not  far  removed  from  poverty,  and 
yet-  contrived,  by  means  of  strict  parsimony,  to  make  a 
decent  figure  at  the  houses  to  which  he  was  invited. 
Being  a -writer  of  verses,  and  consequently  a  dealer  in 
compliments,  he  was  always  acceptable,  and  at  length  by 
madaine  Pompadour's  interest,  was  introduced  to  Louis  XV. 
The  good  effects  of  this,  at  first,  were  only  an  apartment 

>  BJ«g.  t7niy«rseIle.-*>Dict.  Hist— M»reri. — Reynolds^a  Worlu,  roh  I.  p.  87  ; 
II.  p.  27.-^Pennaiit's  Hist,  of  London. — ^Dodd's  C&urcb  History,  Tol.  UL  p.  98. 
-«>Walpole'f  Flthsters. 


}gp  B  P  R  N  I  p. 

in  lih^  'Jjuilerie^,  to  wbicb  iHf  p^troD^gs  |id4ed  ^e 
ppd  ^  pension  of  fifte^p  bi;pdr/$d  IJvre* ;  yet  it  s^on  led  %• 
g^e^r  matt/ers.  H^vi|[ig'been  appointed  ^.mb^^^dor  t» 
yieq^icp,  |ie  was  retn.^rl^ed  to^aye  acquired  the  good  ippiaicHi 
Bjjii  iCQiifidence  of  a  $tat^  ratbeir  di^cuU  to  pi^ase  in  apt- 
ppintments  of  ti^is  descripjuop^  ^d  of  this  tt^ey  gavi^  bim  a 
gtrong  proof,  iii  a  content  t.bey  bad  with  pope  Bemedvpi^  XIV. 
wbo  appoipt^d  j&eFni$  ag  bis  BiegQci^tor.  On  tbi9  occasioft 
^be  $ta^e  of  Veuipe  approved  tb^  cboic^,  jtba  oon^equcvtcf 
pf  yrbict^  W&lff  tbat  Berai^  ejected  a  recouciliatioo  to  Um 
fentire  $ati$faeti|0fi  pf  botb  parties.  On  bis  return)  he  bev 
came  a  great  favourite  at  court,  aequired  considerably  in* 
^pepc^,  and  ^%  length,  being  ad«)iu<sd  into  the  coaBcily 
Wf^^  apppintfsd  foreign  minister.  But  in  this  situation  h^ 
yf^%  either  unskilful  or  unfortunate;  the  disasters  of  the 
seven  ye$irs  war,  and  the  peace  of  1763^  w^re  laid  to  hii 
c]:^arge  \  but  accprdiqg  to  OuoIqs,  be'was  less  to  blame  than 
^is  cplle^gues, .  a^d  it  is  certain  that  in  some  instances  hm 
jjias  been  u^tiustly  censured.  It  w^s  said,  in  particulai^ 
tl^a(  be  ftrg)ied  iQf  a  declaration  of  war  against  Prussia,  b#9 
pause  Frederick  the  Gr^j^t  ha4  rijdipuled  his  poetry  in  tlm 
folipHring  lin^, 

^'  Evitez  de  Bemis  la  sterile  abondance  ;** 

but  tb^  h^P  W^s,  that  Bernis  always  cont(S)ided,  in  eoqucil^ 
fox  ap  alli^^npe  with  Pri^s^ia,  and  that  in  opppsitign  ^  th# 
^el|-ki>pv)^n  ^entipifents  of  Vpuis  XV*  and  madame  Poinpiia 
^our.  Tbe  misfortunes  of  bis  country,  l^p^revefi  indupp4 
\^i^i  tp  T^^g^ «  h\^  resignation  \¥fu  accepted,  %nd  hiai«e}f 
es^il^d  i  ^  prppfy  perhaps,  th^t  hi$  advice  )i^d  bee^  in  ppv 
l^p^itiop  %Q  the  cpurt  6e  this  as  it  mayt  be  bore  bis  dia^ 
gi^ace  )vi(b  firmness,  and  whep  th^  period  pf  his  exile  WM 
over  in  1764,  be  (bping  already  a  cardinal)  w^  prpn|Qil;§4 
\y  \\ip  l^ipg  t;p  the  archbishopric  of  Alby,  apd^ve  ye^m 
ffter  $ep(  to  Rome  as  aipbassadov.  A  cpp^ider^ible  tiiim 
qft^r  t\4^t  ^^  ^^  appointed  prpt^p^or  of  ^be  pbiirob^s  9f 
Fr^nce«  apd  ^^P^  hi^  residence  ^t  ^ome,  ^berf  b§  rets 
m^ii^ed  sdmost  tbe  w)ioIe  of  his  lifp,  Xwo  oppoftunitiqi 
occurred  in  which  he  dempustrated  his  (alents  for  qegoei^rt 
tion,  tb^  cpnclaves  of  ^769  ^n4  U74.  pp  bad  i^  hmdp 
likewise,  in  the  naipe  of  hi^  cpurt,  bu(  ^gain^t  bis  i|wil 
opinion,  in  the  dissolution  of  the  Jesuits.  During  his  re- 
sidence at  Rome,  bis  bouse  was  the  general  rendezvous  of 
strangers  of  distinction,  and  piany  English  trayf Upfi  \^^$i 


B  E  RrN  I  S.  I2i 

tfsttiiioiiy  to  the  elegant  iDnmiers  and  lios|Hk»Uty  of  tba 
i^rdui^l  de'BernU.  Id  1791,  itb^  aunts  o^  Louis  XVL 
ifiv^u  by  the  revolution  from  their  family  and  couniry^ 
took  up  ti^ir  ^boide  with  bim  during  their  stay  at  Rome, 
but  tb»t  «am^  revolutioo  robbed  him  of  bis  powessions  and 
bis  promotions,  as  be  refused  to  take  the  oaths  thenre^^ 
quired.  In  this  distress,  the  court  of  Spain,  at  the  s(riici« 
tation  of  the  chevalier  d*Azara,  settled  a  pension  on  him, 
fvhicb  be  enjoyed  but  three  years,  dying  at  Rome  Nov.  2^ 
}794,  in  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age. 

Aft  a  poet,  t^e  cardinal  was  very  .early  noticed,  and  hia 
poems  were  so  highly  esteemed  as  to  procure  his  being  ad* 
jg^t^d  into  tb^  French  academy  long  before  he  had  risea 
^  the  world.  They  have  not,  however,  preserved  their 
reputation,  and  no  person  perhaps  could  judge  more 
feverely  of  them,  than  the  cardinal  himself,  of  whose 
^ents  they  certainly  were  not  worthy,  nor  did  he  like  to 
b^r  them  mentioned.  After  his  death  a  poem  of  his 
composition  wa$  published,  ^^  Religion  vengde,*'  which  was 
«t  least  more  becoming  his  rank  thau  his  juvenile  effusions* 
{t  contains  some  spirited  passages  and  excellent  sentiments^ 
but  .has  too  much  of  the  coldness  and  philosophy  of  age. 
His  early  poems  were  censured  for  being  overloaded  with 
gorgeous  figures  and  flowers.  Voltaire  used  to  call  him 
Babei'^la^Bfntquetier€f  the  name  of  a  fat  nosegay  woman, 
who  i:^ed  to  ply  at  the  door  of  the  Opera.  In  other  re* 
apects^  Voltaire  had  a  high  opinion  of  Bernis's  talents,  as 
appears  from  their  correspondence  (published  in  1799,  8vo.) 
in  which  Bernis  appears  to  great  advantage,  and  very  su* 
perior  to  the  flippant  freedoms  of  his  correspondent's  style* 
In  1790,  a  volume  of  Bemis'  letters  to  M.  Paris  du  Vemey, 
was  published  at  Paris ;  but  these  are  not  very  interesting, 
iinless  as  exhibiting  some  agreeable  features  in  his  charac-' 
tor.  The  cardinal's  works,  in  prose  and  verse,  have  been 
0ften  printed,  and  form  2  vols.  8vo.  or  18  mo.  His  poem 
iHi  Religion  was  magnificently  printed  by  Bodoni  in  £ol» 
and  4to.  and  Didot  printed  a  beautiful  edition  of  his  corner 
plete  works  in  1707,  8vo.  ^ 

.  BERNOULLI,  the  name  of  a  family  which  has 
produced  a  succession  of  learned  men,  eminent  in  the 
ttudy  of  mathematics.  Eight  of  its  members,  within  the 
ifiace  of  a  century,  have  been  particularly  distinguished 

1  Bio((.  Univenelle. 


12B  B  E  R  IJ  O  U  L  L  I. 

\ 

% 

in  this  scjence.  The  Bernouilli^s  were  originally  of  Ant- 
werp, but  were  obliged  to  leave  their  country  for  the  sake 
of  religion,  daring  the  pereecution  raised  by  the  duke  of 
Alva.  They  then  came  to  Francfort,  and  from  that  to 
Basil,  where  some  of  them  arrived  at  the  chief  offices  of 
the  republic.  The  first  who  occurs  in  biographical  collec- 
tions is, 

.  BERNOULLI  (James),  who  was  born  at  Basil,  Dec;  2T, 
J  654.  After  he  bad  studied  polite  literature,  he  learned 
the  old  philosophy  of  the  schools ;  and,  having  taken  bis 
degrees  in  the  university  of  Basil,  applied  himself  to  di- 
vinity, not  so  much  from  inclination,  as  complaisance  to 
bis  father.  He  gave  very  early  proofs  of  his  genius  for 
mathematics,  and  soon  became  a  geometrician,  without  any 
assistance  from  masters,  and  at  first  almost  without  boots : 
for  he  was  not  allowed  to  have  any  books  of  this  kind  ;  and 
if  one  fell  by  chance  into  his  hands,  he  was  obliged  to  con*». 
ceal  it,  that  he  might  not  incur  the  displeasure  of  bis  fa« 
tber,  who  designed  him  for  other  studies.  This  severity 
made  him  choose  for  his  device.  Phaeton  driving  the  cha- 
riot of  the  sun,  with  these  words,  ^^  Invito  patre  sidera 
vTerso,"  ^^  I  traverse  the  stars  against  my  father's  inclina- 
tion :^'  it  had  a  particular  reference  to  astronomy,  the  part 
of  mathematics  to  which  be  at  first  applied  himself.  But 
these  precautions  did  not  avail,  for  he  pursued  his  fia.- 
vourite  study  with  great  application.  In  1676  he  began 
his  travels.  When  he  was  at  Geneva,  he  fell  u|>on  a  me- 
thod to  teach  a  young  girl  to  write,  though  she  had  lost 
her  sight  when  she  was  but  two  months  old.  At  Bottr"- 
deaux  he  composed  universal  gnomonic  tables,  but  they 
were  never  published.  He  returned  from  France  to  his 
qwn  country  in  1680.  About  this  time  there  appeared  a 
comet,  the  return  of  which  he  foretold,  and  wrote  a  small 
treatise  upon  it,  which  he  afterwards  translated  into  Latin. 
He. went  soon  after  to  Holland,  where  he  applied  himself 
to  the  new  philosophy,  and  particularly  to  that  part  of  the 
mathematics  which  consists  in  resolving  problems  and  de- 
monstrations. After  having  visited  Flanders  and  Brabant, 
he  went  to  Calais,  and  passed  over  to  England.  At  Lon- 
don be  contracted  an  acquaintance  with  all  the  most  emi- 
nent men  in  the  several  sciences ;  and  had  the  honour  of 
being  frequently  present  at  the  philosophical  societies  held 
at  the  house  of  Mr.  Boyle.  He  returned  to  his  native 
country  in  1682 }  and  exhibited  at  Basil  a  course  of  expe-* 


BERNOULLI  12$ 

riments.  in  natural  philosophy  and  mechaflics,  which  con- 
sisted of  a  variety  of  new  discoveries.  The  same  year  he 
published  his  "  Essay  on  a  new  system  of  Comets  ;^'  and 
■the  year  following,  his  "  Dissertation  on  the  weight  of  the 
Air."  About  this  time  Leibnitz  having  published,  in  the 
Acta  Eruditoram  at  Leipsic,  some  essays  on  his  new  ^*  Cal- 
culus Difierentialis/'  but  concealing  the  art  and  method 
of  it,  Mr.  Bernoulli  and  his  brother  John  discovered,  by 
the  little  which  they  saw,  the  beauty  and  extent  of  it :  this 
induced  them  to  endeavour  to^  unravel  the  secret ;  whicli 
they  did  with  such  success,  that  Leibnitz  declared  that  the 
invention  belonged  to  them  as  much  as  to  himself. 

In  1687,  James  Bernoulli  succeeded  to  the  professorship 
of  mathematics  at  Basil ;  a  trust  which  he  discharged  with 
great  applause ;  and  his  reputation  drew  a  great  number 
of  foreigners  from  all  parts  to  attend  his  lectures.  In  1 699 
he  was  admitted  a  foreign  member  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  of  Paris;  and  in  1701  the  same  honour  was  con-- 
ferred  upon  him  by  the  Academy  of  Berlin :  in  both  of 
which  be  published  several  ingenious  compositions,  about 
the  years  1702,  3,  and  4.  He  wrote  also  several  pieces  in 
the  "  Acta  Eruditorum"  of  Leipsic,  and  in  the  "  Journal 
des  S^avans."  His  intense  application  to  study  brought 
upon  him  the  gout,  and  by  degrees  a  slow  fever,  which 
put  a  period  to  his  life  the  16th  of  August  1705,  in  the 
£l8tyear  of  his  age. — Archimedes  having  found  out  the 
proportion  of  a  sphere  and  its  circumscribing  cylinder, 
ordered  them  to  be  engraven  on  his  monument :  in  imita- 
tion of  him,  Bernoalli  appointed  that  a  logarithmic  spiral 
curve  should  be  inscribed  on  his  tomb,  with  these  words^ 
^^  Eadem  mutata  resurgo ;"  in  allusion  to  the  hopes  of  the 
resurrection,  which  are  in  some  measure  represented  by 
the.  properties  of  that  curve,  which  he  had  the  honour  of 
discovering. 

James  Bernoulli  had  an  excellent  geniu»  for  invention 
and  elegant  shnplicity,  as  well  as  a  close  application.  He 
was  emineiitly  skilled  in  all  the  branches  of  the  mathema-* 
tics^  and  (contributed  much  to  the  promoting  the  new  ana- 
lyBis,  infinite  series,  &c.  He  carried  to  a  great  height 
the  theory  of  the  quadrature  of  the  parabola ;  the  geo^^rj 
of  carve  lines,  of  spirals,  of  cycloids  and  epicycloids.  His 
works,  that  bad  been  published,  were  collected,  and  printed 
in  2  volumes  4to,  at  Geneva  in  1744.  At  the  time  of  his 
death  he  was  occupied  on  a  great  work  entitled  ^^  De  Arte 


/ 


124 


JBERNOULLL 


Conjectandi/*  which  was  published  in  4to,  in  1713.  It 
contains  one  of  the  best  and  most  elegant  introductions  to 
Infinite  Series,  &c.  This  posthumous  work  is  omitted  in 
the  collection  of  his  works  above  mentioned,  as  is  a  letter 
of  his  printed  fur  the  first  time  by  M.  Bossut  in  the  *^  Jour- 
jDal  de  Physique/'  Sept.  1792.* 

BERNOULLI  (John),  the  brother  of  the  preceding, 
and  a  celebrated  mathematician,  was  bom  at  Basil  the  7th 
pf  August  1667.  His  father  intended  him  for  trade;  but 
his  own  inclination  was  at  first  for  the  belles-lettres,  which 
however,  like  his  brother,  he  left  for  mathematics.  Hi^ 
laboured  with  his  brother  to  discover  the  method  used  by 
Leibnitz,  in  his  essays  on  the  Differential  Calculus,  and 
gave  the  fi^rst  principles  of  the  Integral  Calcalus.  Our 
author,  with  messieurs  Huygens  and  Leibnitz,  was  the  first 
who  gave  the  solution  of  the  problem  proposed  by  James 
Bernoulli,  concerning  the  catenary,  or  curve  formed  by  a 
chain  suspended  by  its  two  extremities. 

John  Bernoulli  had  the  degree  of  doctor  of  physic  at 
Basil,  and  two  years  afterward  was  named  profassor  of 
mathematics  in  the  university  of  Groningen.  It  was  here 
that  he  discovered  the  mercurial  phosphorus  or  luminouft 
barometer ;  and  where  he  resolved  the  problem  proposed 
by  his  brother^concerning  Isoperimetricals.  On  the  death 
of  his  brother  James,  the  professor  at  Basil,  our  author  re* 
turned  to  his  native  country,  against  the  pressing  invita^ 
tions  of  the  magistrates  of  Utrecht  to  come  to  that  city, 
and  of  the  university  of  Groningen,  who  wished  to  detain 
him.  The  academic  senate  of  Basil  soon  appointed  him  to 
succeed  his  brother,  without  assembling  competitors,  and 
contrary  to  the  established  practice :  an  appointment  which 
be  held  during  bis  whole  life. 

In  1714  was  published  his  treatise  on  *^  the  management 
of  Ships;"  and  in  1730,  his  memoir  on  '^  the  elliptical 
figure  of  the  Planets''  gained  the  prize  of  the  academy  of 
sciences.  The  same  academy  also  divided  the  prize,  fot 
their  question  concerning  the  inclination  of  the  planetary 
orbits,  between  our  author  and  his  son  Daniel.  John  Ber* 
jQOuUi  was  a  member  of  most  of  the  academies  of  Europe, 
and  feceived  as  a  foreign  associate  of  that  of  Paris  in  1699. 
After  a  long  life  spent  m  constant  study  and  improvement 
,of  all  the  brances  of  the  mathematics,  he  died  full  of 

r 

1  Gen.  Dict.—Moreri.— >Bio;.  Uaiv.«*8axu  Onomuticon.'— Hutton's  BCath. 
Pictionary. 


BERNOULLL  I3« 

bonoure  the  first  of  Janoary  1748,  in  the  Sl'st  3rear  of  bw 
age.  Of  five  sons  wbicb  be  bad,  three  pursaed  the  samd 
sciences  with  biinself.  One  of  these  died  befoi'e  him  ;  the 
two  others,  Nicolas  and  Daniel,  he  lived  to  see  become 
eminent  and  much  respected  in  the  same  sciences.  The 
writings  of  this  great  man  were  dispersed  through  the  pe* 
riodicai  memoirs  of  several  academies,  as  well  as  in  many 
separate  treatises.  And  the  whole  of  them  were  carefully 
collected  and  published  at  Lausanne  and  Geneva,  1742', 
in  4  vols.  4to ;  but  this  is  still  not  quite  perfect  without  his 
correspondence  with  Leibnitz,  published  under  the  titled 
^  GuL  Leibnitii  et  Johan.  Bemouillii  commercium  pbiioso^ 
phicum  et  matbematicum,"  Lausanne  &  Geneva>  1745^ 
2  vols.  4to.  * 

BERNOULLI  (Daniel),  a  celebrated  physician  and 
philosophy  and  son  of  John  Beniouili  last  mentioned,  wa^ 
born  at  Groningen  Feb.  the  9th,  1700,  where  his  father 
was  then  professor  of  mathematics.  He  was  intended  by 
bis  ikther  for  trade,^  but  his  genius  led  him  to  other  pursuits. 
He  passed  some  time  in  Italy ;  and  at  twenty-four  years  of 
age  he  declined  the  honour  offered  him  of  becoming  pre*^ 
sident  of  an  academy  intended  to  have  been  established  at 
Genoa;  He  spent  several  years  with  great  credit  at  Pe** 
tersburgh;  and  in  1733  returned  to  Basil,  where  hisftithef 
was  then  professor  of  mathematics;  and  here  our  author 
successively  filled  the  chair  of  physic,  of  natural  -and-  of 
specuiative  philosophy.  In  his  work  ^^  Exercitationes  Ma^. 
thematic®,''  1724,  he  took  the  only  title  be  then  had,  vis. 
**  Son  of  John  Bernoulli,  -  and  never  would  suffer  any  othef 
to  be  added  to  it.  This  work  was  published  in  Italy,  while 
he  was*there  on  his  travels ;  and  it  classed  him  ii>  the  ranb 
of  iivvetitors.  In  his  work,."  Hydrodynamica,*'  published 
in  4to  at  Strasbourg,  in  1738,  to  the  same  title  was  also* 
added  that  g§  Meet.  Prof.  Basil. 

Daniel  Bemoulli  wrote  a  multitude  of  other  pieces,  which^ 
have  been  published  in  the  Mem.  Acad,  of  Sciences  ar 
Paris,  and  in  those  of  other  academies.  He  gaiived  and^ 
divided  ten  prizes  from  the  academy  of  sciences^  which 
w«K^  contended  for  by  the  most  illustrious  mathematicians- 
in  Europe.  The  only  person  who  has  had  similar  success* 
of  the  same  kind,  is  £uler,  his  countryman,  disciple,  rival*, 

1.  GeiK  Piot-*«*M!iMreri.-^Bior  Voir.— Saxii  Oirofontieoii.— fliittoD*t  Math. 
Dictionary. 


12(5  BERN  a  U  L  L  I. 

mad  friend.  His  first  prize  fae  gained  at  twenty-four  yes^rs 
«f  agev  In  1734  be  divided  one-  with  his  father;  wbicb 
Iicirt  the  family  union  ;  for  the  father  considered  the  con* 
teit  itself  as  a  want  of  respect ;  and  the  son  did  not  spf-* 
ficiently  conceal  that  he  thought  (what  was  really  the 
case)  hi9  own  piece  better  than  bis  father's.  And  besides, 
be  declared  for  Newton,  against  whom  his  father  had  con- 
tended  all  bis  life.  In  1740  our  author  divided  the  prize^ 
f'  Ou  the  Tides  of  the  Sea,*"  with  Euler  and  Maclaurin, 
The  academy  at  the  same  time  crowned  a  fourth  picce,^ 
whose  chief  merit  was  that  of  being  Cartesian  ;  but  this  was 
the  last  public  act  of  adoration  paid  by  the  academy  tb  the 
authority  of  the  author  of  the  Vortices,  which  it  had 
obeyed  too.  long.  In  1748  Daniel  Bernoulli  succeeded  his 
father  John  in  the  academy  of  sciences,  who  had  succeeded 
his  brother  James ;  this  place,  since  its  first  erectioiv  in 
1699,  having  never  been  without  a  Bernoulli  to  fill  it. 

Our  author  was  extremely  respected  at  Basil ;  and  to 
bow  to  Daniel  Bernoulli,  when  tbey  met  him  in  the  streets, 
was  one  of  the  first  lessons  which  every  father  gave  every 
child.  He  was  a  man  of  great  simplicity  and  modesty  of 
BiaoDers^  He  used  to  tell  two  little  adventures,  whitrh  he 
sa^rd  bad  given  him  more  pleasure  than  all  the  other  bo« 
Bours  he  had  received.  Travelling  with  a  learned  i^tranger, 
who,  being  pleased  with  his  conversation,  asked  his  name ; 
^\  I  am  Daniel  Bernoulli,"  answered  he  with  great  mo* 
d^sty  ;  '*  And  I,'*  said  the  stranger  (who  thought  he  meant 
tQ  laugh  at  him),  ^^  am  Isaac  Newton.^'  Another  time 
having  to  dinner  with  him  the  celebrated  Koenig  the  ma* 
thematician,  who  boasted,  with  some  degree  of  self-com- 
placency, of  a  diffi^lt  problem  he  had  resolved  with  much 
trouble,  Bernoulli  went  on  doing  the  honours  of  bis  t^ble, 
and  when  they  went  to  drink  coffee  he  presented  Koenig 
with  a  solution  of  the  problem  more  elegant  than  his  own. 
After  a  long,  useful,  and  honourable  life,  Daniel  Bernoulli 
died  the  L7th  of  March  1732,  in  the  eighty  •third  year  of 
his  age.  * 

BERNOULLI  (John),  the  grandson  of  the  preceding 
John,  was  born  at  Basil  Nov.  4,  1744,  and  died  at  Berliii 
July  13,  1807.  He  studied  at  Basil  and  Neufchatel,  at* 
taching  himself  chiefly  to  philosophy,  mathematics,'  aud 

1  Gen.  Dict.->Moreri.-*-Biof .  UniT.— ^xii  OnomasticoB.-— Huttoa's  Math. 
thctioDfl^y. 


BERNOULLI  127 

ftfti*anomy.  At  the  age  of  nineteen^  be  was  invited  to  th« 
place  of  astronomer  in  the  academy  of  Berlin,  and  some 
years  after,  having  obtained  permission  to  travel,  hevi^ 
sited  Germany,  England,  and  France,  and  in  bis  sabse-* 
quent  travels,  Italy,  Russia,  Poland,  &c.  From  the  year 
1779,  he  resided  at  Berlin,  where  he  was  appointed  head 
of  the  mathematical  class  of  the  academy.  He  was  also  a 
member  of  the  academies  of  Petersburgh  and  Stockholm, 
and  of  the  royal  society  of  London.  Like  all  the  other 
branches  of  his  family,  he  was  a  laborious  writer.  The 
following  are  the  principal  productions  of  his  pen,  I .  ^^  Re- 
cueil  pour  les  Astronomes,''  1772 — 76,  3  vols.  8vo.  2. 
^  Lettres  sur  differents  sujets,  ecrites  pendant  le  cours 
d^un  voyaged  par  TAilemagne,  la  Suisse,  la  France  meri- 
diooale,  et  PItalie,inl774.  and  1775,"  3  vols.  8vo.l777— 79. 
3.  *^  Description  d'un  Voyage  en  Prusse,  en  Russie,  et  eu 
Pologne,  en  1777  et  1778,"  first  published  in  German, 
1779;  6  vols,  but  afterwards  in  French,  Warsaw,  1782.  4: 
^^  Letlxes  Astronomiques,"  1781,  according  to  our  autho- 
rity ;  bttt  he  published  a  wock  under  this  title  about  1772y 
after  he  had  made  a  literary  excursion  in  17  $8  to  England, 
France,  and  Germany,,  containing  his  observations  on  the 
actual  state*  of  practical  astronomy  at  Gottingen,  Cassel, 
'^and  other  parts  of  Germany,  and.  at  Greenwich,  Oxford, 
Cambridge,  London,  and  Paris.  5.  ^^  A  collection  of  voy- 
ages," in  German,  16  vols.  1781—1785.  6.  ^«*The  Ar- 
chives, or  records  of  History  and  Geography,"  in  German, 
8  vols.  1783 — 1788.  7.  "  De  la  reforme.  politique  des 
Juifs,"  translated  from  the  German  of  Dohm,  1782,  12mo« 
8.  *^  Elemens  d^Algebre  d^Euler,"  from  the  German,  Ly- 
ons, 1785,  2  vols.  8vo.  9.  *^  Nouvelles  litteraires  de  divers 
pais,'*  Berlin,  1776 — 79,  8vo.  He  edited  also,  in  con- 
junction with  professor  Hindenburg,  for  three  years,  the 
'^  Mathematical  Magazine,"  and  wrote  many  papers  in  the 
Memoirs  of  the  Berlin  Academy,  and  the  Astronomical 
Ephemerides,  published  in  Berlin.  ^ 

BERNSTORF  (John  Hart  wig  Ernest,  Count),  minis* 
ter  of  state  in  Denmark,  was  born  at  Hanover,  May  13,1712. 
Some  relations  he  happened  to  have  in  Denmark  invited 
him  thither,  where  his  talents  were  soon  noticed,  and  em- 
ployed by  the  government  .After  having  been  ambassa- 
dor in  several  courts,  he  was  placed  by  Frederick  V.  at 

,  I  Biof.  UniTerielle^ 


t2S  B  E  R  N  S  T  O  R  F. 

the  hedd  of  foreign  affairs.  During  the  seVen.  ye«r»  ihif 
(175*5 — 62).he  preserved  a  system  of  strict  neutrality^  whidi 
prored  eminently  serviceable  to  the  comnnerce  and  intet'*- 
nal  prosperity  of  Denmark.  In  4  761,  when  the^tcfkp&M 
of  Russia,  Peter  III.  threatened  Detima^rk  with  war,  and 
marched  bis  troops  towardir  Hoistein,  Bemstorf  txtttei 
the  utmost  vigour  in  contriving  means  for  the  defence  of 
the  country,  attd  the  suddenf  death  of  Peter  banring  averted 
this  istorm,  be  employed  his  skill  in  bringing  about  an  al«« 
Kance  between  the  courts  of  Copenhagen  and  St.  Peters^ 
burgh.  In  1767  he  succeeded  in  concluding  ar  provisionai 
treaty,  by  which  the  dukedom  of  Holstein,.  which  Paah^ 
the  grand  duke  of  Russia,  inherited  by  the  death  of  Petef 
III.  was  excbangjed  for  Oldenburgh,.  which  belonged  to. 
the  king  of  Denmark:  This  finally  took  place  i»  1773^ 
and  procured  an  important  addition  to  the  DaTtisfa^  terriw 
tories;  Soon  after  Bernstorf  put  a  stop  to  thfe  long  cotitei^ 
that  bad  been  maintained  respecting  the  house  of  Hok^elA 
having  a  right  of  sovereignty  over  Hamburgh,  ancV  tbttt  c&ii^ 
1^13  declared  independent  oirbondition  of  not  claittHJhg  te^ 
payment  of  t^fae  money  the  city  had  advanced  to  thie  king  of 
Denmark  and  the  dukes  of  Hoktein.  These  measarevcon-^ 
titibut^d  highly  to  the  reputation  of  count  Bernstorf  'at  • 
politician,  but  perhaps  he  derived  as*  much  credit  fmm  hit 
conduct  in  othier  refispects.  He  had  acquired  a  large'  estettf 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Copenhagen,  the  peasant?  on 
^sdxich,  as  was-  the  case  in  Denmark  at  tbat  time,  wei^ 
slaves,  and  transferred  like  other  property.  Bernsteri^ 
bowetei',  not  only  gave  them  th^ir  liberty,,  but  grais<Ded' 
tfhem  long^  leases,  and  encouraged  them  to  eultivate  th^ 
Land,  and  feel  that  they  bad  an  interest  in  it^'  Hiat^^naiMRi^ 
soon  sensible  ofi  the  humanity  and  wisdom^of  his*  eondaoiv 
agreed  to  express  their  gratitude  by  eifecting.  an  obelisb 
in  honour  of  him  on  the  side  of  the  great  road  leading  t(t 
Copenhagen.  Bernstorf  was  likewise  a  liberal  patron  of 
manufactures,  commerce,  and  the  fiine  arts.  It  was  hd 
who  induced  Fi^ederick  V.  to  give  a  pension  for  life  to  t^he 
poet  Ktopstock*  Ou  the  dea&  of  thatmonarci^  Be^mstorft 
was  continued  in  die  ministry  for  the  fiitst  yeslitt-  of  cbtf 
i>ew  reiguy  mitil  LTTOv  wbe»  Struenzee  being  pfafco^  atf 
the  bead  ofi  the  council;.  Bernstorf  was  allowed  to  resigtti 
vritb  a  pension.  He  then  retired  to  Hamburgh^  but  aftcNP 
the  catastrophe  of  Struenzee,  be  was  recalled,  and  was 
about  to  set  out  for  Copenhagen  when  he  died  of  an  apo* 


B  E  R  N  S  T  O  H  F.  129 

plexy,  Feb.  19,  1772.  The  political  measures  of  this  states- 
man belong  to  history,  but  his  private  character  has  been 
the  theme  of  universal  applause.  Learned,  social,  affable^ 
generous,  and  high  spirited,  he  preserved  the  affections 
of  all  who  knew  him,  and  throughout  his  whole  administra- 
tion had  the  singular  good  fortune  to  enjoy  at  the  same 
time  courtly  favour  and  popular  esteem.  His  nephew^ 
count  Andrew  Peter  Bernstorf,  who  was  bom  in  1735,  and 
eventually  succeeded  him  as  foreign  minister  for  Denmark^ 
displayed  «qual  zeal  and  knowledge  in  promoting  the  true 
interests  of  his  country,  which  yet  repeats  his  name  with 
fervour  and  enthusiasm.  It  was  particularly  his  object  to 
preserve  the  neutrality  of  Denmark,  after  the  French  re- 
volution had  provoked  a  combination  of  most  of  the  powers 
of  Europe  ;  and  as  long  as  neutral  rights  were  at  all  re- 
spected, he  succeeded  in  this  wise  measure.  His  state 
papers  on  the  "  principles  of  the  court  of  Denmark  con- 
cerning neutrality,"  in  1780,  and  his  "  Declaration  to  the 
courts  of  Vienna  and  Berlin,'^  in  1792,  were  much  adf- 
mired.  In  private  life  he  followed  the  steps  of  his  uncle, 
by  a  liberal  patronage  of  J^rts,  commerce,  and  manufactures, 
and  like  him  was  as  popular  in  the  country  as  in  the  court. 
He  died  Jan.  21,  1797.' 

BERpALD,  or  BEROALDE  (Matthevi^),  was  born  at 
St.  Denis  near  Paris,  and  was  educated  at  the  college  of 
the  cardinal  Lemmne,  where  he  made  great  proficiency  in 
the  learned  languages,  and  became  an  able  theologian, 
mathematician,  philosopher,  and  historian.  In  1550  he  was 
at  Agen  as  preceptor  to  Hector  Fregosa,  afterwards  bishop 
of  that  city,  and  here  he  was  converted  to  the  Protestant 
religion  along  with  Scaliger  and  other  learned  nien.  When 
he  arrived  at  Paris  in  15'58,  he  was  chosen  preceptor  to 
Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubign^ ;  but  the  persecution  arising, 
he  was  arrested  at  Constance  and  condemned  to  be  burnt, 
a  fate  from  which  he  was  preserved  by  the  kindness  of  an 
officer  who  favoured  his  escape.  He  then  went  to  Orleans, 
Eochelle,  and  Sancerre^  and  distinguished  himself  by  his 
courage  during  the  siege  of  this  latter  place  by  the  marshal 
de  Lachatre.  In  1574  we  find  him  at  Geneva,  officiating 
as  minister  and  professor  of  philosophy.  His  death  is 
supposed  to  have  taken  place  in  1576.  He  wrote  a  curious 
book  entitled  ^^  Chronicon,  sacrae  Scrip turse  auctoritate 

1  Biog.  Universelle,  ^c. 

Vol.  V.  K 


130  B  E  R  O  A  L  D, 

constitutam,''  Geneva,  1575,  fol.  In  this  he  maintainiJ  that 
all  chronological  authorities  must  be  sought  in  the  holy 
3criptures.  Vossius  and  Scaliger  speak  highly  of  his  ta- 
lents. Draudius,  in  his  "  BibliothecaClassica,"  mentions 
another  work  in  which  he  was  concerned,  "  G.  Mercatoris 
et  Matthei  Beroaldi  chronologia,  ab  initio  mundi  ex  eclip- 
sis  et  observationibus  astronomicis  demonstrata,''  Basil, 
1577,  Cologne,  1568,  fol.  We  have  some  doubts  whether 
this  is  not  the  same  as  the  work  mentioned  above. ' 

BEROALDE  de  Verville  (Francis),  son  to  the  pre- 
ceding, was  born  at  Paris,  April  28,  1558,  and  educated 
in  the  principles  of  the  reformed  religion,  but  after  his 
father's  death,  returned  to  those  of  the  church  of  Rome^ 
and   became  an  ecclesiastic,  having  in  1593  obtained    a 
canonry  of  St.  Gatien  of  Tours.     From  his  youth  he  ap- 
plied   with    enthusiasm    to    scientific    pursuits,    and    was 
scarcely  twenty  years  old  when  he  published  in  Latin  and 
French,  Besson's  "  Theatre  of  mathematical  and  mechani- 
cal instruments,"  with  explanations.     At  that  time,  if  he 
may  be  credited,  he  had  made  many  discoveries  in  mathe- 
matics, was  an  expert  watchmaker  and  goldsmith,  and  his 
knowledge  of  the  classics  would  have  recommended  him  to 
the  place  of  tutor  to  the  son  of  a  person  of  rank  :  but  he 
was  extremely  vain,  and  perpetually  flattering  himself  that 
he  possessed  invaluable  secrets,  and  had  discovered  the 
philosopher's  stone,  perpetual  motion,  and  the  quadrature 
of  the  circle.     His  works  certainly  show  that  he  had  accu- 
mulated a  considerable  stock  of  various  knowledge,  but  he 
was  very  deficient  in  judgment     His  style  is  diffuse,  and 
so  perplexed  even  in  his  poems,  that  his  works  have  had 
but  few  readers,  and  are  in  request  only  by  the  collectors 
of  curiosities.     The  greater  part  of  these  were  collected 
and   published  under  the  title  of  "  Apprehensions  spiri- 
tuelles,"  Paris,  1583,  12mo:  among  them  is  a  poem  in 
imitation  of  sir  Thomas  More's  Utopia.     His  translation 
of  Columna's  Hypnerotomachia  is  only  that  of  John  Mar- 
tin altered  and  disfigured.     Niceron  has  given  a  list  of  his 
other  works  (vol.  XXXIV.)  among  which  are,   1.  "  Histoire 
veritable,  ou  Le  Voyage  des  Princes  fortunes^"  Paris,  1610^. 
8vo.    2.  "  Le  Cabinet  de  Minerve,  &c." Rouen,  1601,  12mo. 
3.  "  Moyen  de  parvenir,"  printed  under  the  title  of  "  Sal- 
migondis/'  and  that  of  ^^  Coup-cu  de  la  MeIancbolie>"  a 

^  Oea  Diet.— Biof.  VoiT.—Moreri. 


' 


BEROALDE.  131 

collection  of  licentious  tales/  in  much  request  with  a  cer- 
tain description  of  collectors.  Beroalde's  death  is  conjec- 
tured to  have  happened  in  1612.  ^ 

BEROALDO  (Philip),  thft  elder,  one  of  the  most  emi- 
nent schf  lars  of  the  fifteenth  century,  descended  from  an 
ancient  aind  noble  family  of  Bologna,  was  boirn  there, 
Dec.  7,  1453.  Having  lost  his  father  in  his  infancy,  he 
was  brought  up  by  his  mother  with  the  greatest  care,  able 
masters  being  provided  for  his  education,  whose  pains  he 
rewarded  by  an  uncommon  proficiency,  aided  by  an  asto- 
nishing memory.  Besides  the  lessons  which  they  gave  him, 
he  studied  so  hard  by  himself,  that  at  the  age  of  eighteen, 
he  fell  into  a  very  dangerous  disorder,  from  which  he  reco*  , 
rered  with  much  difficulty.  When  it  was  discovered  that 
he  could  learn  nothing  more  irom  his  tutors,  it  was  thought 
that  the  best  way  to  increase  his  knowledge  was  to  employ 
him  in  teaching  others.  When  only  nineteen,  therefore, 
he  opened  a  school  first  at  Bologna,  and  afterwards  at 
Parma  and  Milan.  After  continuing  this  for  some  time, 
the  high  reputation  of  the  university  of  Paris  made  hio^ 
very  anxious  to  visit  that  city,  which  accordingly  he  ac- 
complished, and  gave  public  lectures  for  some  months 
to  a  very  large  auditory,  some  say,  of  six  hundred  scholars. 
Every  thing  in  science  then  was  done  by  lecturing,  and 
Beroaldo,  no  doubt  gratified  by  the  applause  he  had  met 
with,  would  have  remained  longer  at  Paris  had  he  not  been, 
recalled  to  his  own  country,  his  return  to  which  created  a 
sort  of  public  rejoicing.     His  jirst  honour  was  to  be  ap-. 

i)ointed  professor  of  belles-lettres  in  the  university  of  Bo* 
ogna,  which  he  retained  all  his  life,  and  although  he  would 
have  been  content  with  this,  as  the  summit  of  his  literary 
ambition,  yet  this  promotion  was  followed  by  civic  honours. 
In  1489  he  was  named  one  of  the  ancients  of  Bologna, 
and  some  years  after  made  one  of  a  deputation  from  the 
city,  with  Galeas  Bentivoglio,  to  pope  Alexander  VI.  He 
was  also  for  several  years,  secretary  of  the  republic. 

Amidst  so  much  study  and  so  many  employments,  Be- 
roaldo had  his  relaxations,  which  do  not  add  so  much  to 
bis  reputation.  He  was  fond  of  the  pleasures  of  the  table, 
and  passionately  addicted  to  play,  to  which  he  sacrificed 
all  he  was  worth.  He  was  an  ardent  votary  of  the  fair  sex; 
a.nd  thought  no  pains  nor  expence  too  great  for  accomplish- 

K   2 


1S2  B  E  R  O  A  L  D  0. 

ing  his  wishes.  •  He  dreaded  wedlock,  both  on  his  own  ac* 
count  and  that  of  his  mother,  whom  he  always  tenderly 
loved.  But  at  length  he  found  a  lady  to  his  mind,  and  all 
those  different  passions  that  had  agitated  the  youth  of  Be^ 
loaldo  were  appeased  the  moment  he  was  marriied.  The 
mild  and  engaging  manners  of  his  bride  inspiredhim  with 
prudence  and  ceconomy.  Beroaldo  was  from  that  time 
quite  another  man.  Regular,  gentle,  polite,  beneficent, 
envious  of  no  one,  doing  no  one  wrong,  and  speaking 
no  evil,  giving  merit  its  due,  unambitious  of  honours,  and 
content  with  humbly  accepting  such  as  were  offered  him. 
He  had  scarcely  an  enemy,  except  George  Merula,  whose 
jealousy  was  roused  by  Beroaldo's  admiration  of  Politiau, 
whom  himself  once  admired,  and  afterwards  took  every 
opportunity  to  traduce  as  a  scholar.  Beroaldo^s  weak  state 
of  health  brought  on  premature  old  age,  and  he  died  of  a 
fever,  which  was  considered  as  too  slight  for  advice,  July 
7,1505.  His  funeral,  was  uncommonly  pompous;  the  body, 
robed  in  silk  and  crowned  with  laurel,  was  followed  by  all 
persons  of  literary  or  civic  distinction  at  Bologna. 

Beroaldo's  chief  merit  was  his  publication  of  good  edi- 
tions of  the  ancient  Roman  authors,  with  learned  commen- 
taries. His  own  style,  however,  some  critics  think,  is  af- 
fected, and  more  like^  that  of  his  favourite  Apuleius  than 
that  of  Cicero,  and  his  judgment  is  rather  inferior  to  bis 
learning.  Among  his  publications  we  may  enumerate, 
(referring  to  Niceron,  vol.  XXV.  for  the  whole),  1.  ^^Caii 
Plinii  historia  naturalis,''  Parma,  1476,.  Trevisa,  1479,  and 
Paris,  1516,  all  in  fol.  He  was  not  more  than  nineteen 
when  he  wrote  the  notes  to  this  edition  of  Pliny,  whom  be 
afterwards  took  up  and  meant  to  have  given  more  ample 
illustrations,  but  the  copy  on  which  he  had  written  his  notes 
being  stolen  at  Bologna,  he  expressed  at  his  dying  hour 
his  regret  for  the  loss.  2.  ^^  Annotationes  in  commentarios 
Servii  Virgilianos,"  Bologna,  1482,  4to.  3.  "  Propertii 
opera  cum  commentariis,"  Bologna,  1487,  Venice,  1493, 
Paris,  i  604,  all  in  fol.  4.  ^^  Annotationes  in  varios  au-* 
thores  antiquos,"  Bologna,  1488,  Venice,  1489,  Brescia, 
1496,  fol.  5.  f*  Orationes,"  Paris,  1490,  Lyons,  1490 
and  1492,  Bologna,  1491,  &c.  6.  A  second  collection, 
entitled  "  Orationes,  prefationes,  praelectiones,  &c."  Pa- 
ris, 1505,  1507  (or  1508),  1509,  1515,  4to.  There  are 
in  this  collection  some  small  pieces  of  other  authors,  but 
near  thirty  by  Beroaldo^  both  in  prose  and  verse.    Besides 


B  E  R  O  A  L  D  O.  ISS 

these,  our  authority  states^  that  there  have  been  six  more 
editions,  and  yet  it  is  ranked  among  the  rare  books.     7. 
**  Declamatio  ebriosi,  scortatoris,  et  aleatoris,"  Bologna, 
1499,  Paris,  1505,  4to,  &c.     According  to  the  title  of  a 
French  translation,  for  we  have  not  seen  this  work,  it  is  a 
debate  between  a  drunkard,  gallant,  and  gamester,  which 
of  them,  as  the  worst  character,  ought  to  be  disinherited 
by  his  father.     The  French  have   two  translations  of  it, 
one  a  sort  of  paraphrase,  Paris,   1556,  12mo,  the  other 
versified  by  Gilbert  Damalis,  Lyons,  1558,  8vo.     Besides 
these,  Beroaldo  edited  Suetonius,  Apuleius,  Aulus  Gel- 
lius,  Lucan,  and  some  other  classics,  with  notes. — He  had 
a  son,  Vincent,  who  is  ranked  among  the  Bolognese  wri- 
ters, only  for  having  given  an  explanation  of  all  the  words 
employed  by  Bolognetti  in  his  poem  "  II  Constante." — 
Bolognetti  was  his  uterine  brother,  and  he  wrote   these 
explanations  from  the  poem  when  in  manuscript,  and  when 
it  consisted  of  twenty  cantos,  but  as  it  consisted  of  sixteen 
when  published  in   1566,  his  friend  Maltacheti,  to  whom 
he  bequeathed  his  explanation,  published  only  what  re- 
lated to  these  sixteen,  under  the  title  of  "  Dichiarazione 
di  tutte  le  voci  proprie  del  Constante,  &c."  Bologna,  1570, 

BEROALDO  (Philip)  the  younger,  a  noble  Bolognese, 
was  born  at  Bologna,  Oct.  1,  1472.  He  was  the  nephew 
and  pupil  of  the  elder  Beroaldo,  the  subject  of  the  pre« 
ceding  article,  under  whose  instructions  he  made  such 
early  proficiency  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  that 
in  1496,  when  he  was  only  twenty-four  years  of  age,  he 
was  appointed  public  professor  of  polite  literature  at  Bo* 
logna.  Having  afterwards  chosen  the  city  of  Rome  as  his 
residence,  he  there  attracted  the  notice  of  Leo  X.  then 
cardinal  de  Medici,  who  received  him  into  his  service,  as 
his  private  secretary ;  and  when  Leo  arrived  at  the  ponti- 
ficate, Beroaldo  was  nominated  president  of  the  Roman 
academy,  but  probably  relinquished  this  office  on  being 
appointed  librarian  of  the  Vatican.  Bembo,  Bibiena, 
Molza,  Flaminio,  and  other  learned  men  of  the  time,  were 
his  particular  friends  at  Rome.  He  appeared  also  among 
the  admirers  of  the  celebrated  Roman  courtesan  Imperiali, 
and  is  said  to  have  been  jealous  of  the  superior  pretensions 

*  Biog.  Universelle.— -Moreri, — GresweU*9  Politian. — Bail  let  JuGremens  des 
C»vaQS«— Freytag's  Adparatus  I^itterarius. — Blounts  Censura. — Saxit  Oaopast, 


134 


BEROALDO. 


of  Sadoleti  (afterwards  cardinal)  to  her  favour.  The 
warmth  of  his  temperature,  indeed,  sufficiently  appears  in 
some  of  his  poems,  but  such  was  the  taste  of  that  age,  and 
particularly  of  the  licentious  court  of  Leo  X.  His  death, 
which  happened  in  1518,  is  said  to  have  been  occasioned 
by  some  vexations  which  he  experienced  from  that  pontiff, 
as  librarian,  but  this  seems  doubtful. 

He  was  equally  learned  with  the  elder  Beroaldo,  and 
wrote  with  more  taste,  particularly  in  poetry,  but  he 
was  less  laborious,  his  only  productions  being,  1.  "  Taciti 
Anualium  libri  quinque  priores,"  Rome,  1515,  Lyons,  1542, 
Paris,  1608,  all  in  fol.  This  edition  is  dedicated  to  Leo  X, 
at  whose  request  it  was  undertaken,  and  who  gave  five  hun- 
dred sequins  for  the  manuscript,  from  which  it  was  copied, 
to  Angelo  Arcomboldo,  who  brought  it  from  the  abbey  of 
Corvey  in  Westphalia.  Leo  was  likewise  so  pleased  with 
what  Beroaldo  had  done,  that  he  denounced  the  sentence 
of  excommunication,  with  the  penalty  of  two  hundred 
ducats,  and  forfeiture  of  the  books,  against  any  persons  who 
should  reprint  the  book  within  ten  years  without  the  ex- 
press consent  of  the  editor.  The  other  books  of  Tacitus, 
formerly  published,  are  added  to  the  editions  above  speci- 
fied. 2.  **  Odarum  libri  tres,  et  epigrammatum  liber 
unus,"  Rome,  1530,  4to.  These  were  received  with  such 
applause,  particularly  by  the  French  nation,  that  he  has 
bad  no  less  than  six  translators  in  that  country,  among- 
whom  is  the  celebrated  Clement  Marot.  A  part  of  them 
were  incorporated  in  the  "  Delitiae  poet.  Italorum"  of 
Toscano.  * 

BEROLDINGEN  (Francis  de),  an  eminent  mineralo- 
gist, was  born  at  St.  Gall,  Oct.  11,  1740,  and  died  March 
8,  1798.  He  was  acanon  of  Hildesheim  and  Osnaburgh, 
a  member  of  several  literary  societies,  and  had  travelled 
into  various  countries,  to  investigate  the  nature  of  the 
soil,  the  structure  of  mountains,  and  their  mineral  produc- 
tions. By  this  means  he  accumulated  a  great  stock  of  in* 
formation  which  has  given  a  value  to  his  works,  notwith- 
standing his  inclination  to  hypotheses,  and  the  indulgence 
of  certain  prejudices.  All  his  works  are  in  German.  Their 
subjects  are,  1.  "Observations,  doubts,  and  questions  on 
Mineralogy,  &c."  2  vols.  1778  —  1793,  8vo.  2.  "Ob- 
servations  made  during  a  tour  to  the  quicksilver  naines  of 

>  Biog.  Universelle. — ^Roscoe's  Leo.— Morcri.— Saxii  Onomastlcon, 


B  E  R  G  L  D  I  N  G  E  N.  135 

the  Palatinate,  &c."  Berlin,  1788,  8vo.  3.  "  The  Vol- 
canos  of  ancient  and  modern  times  considered  physically 
and  mineralogically,"  Manheim,  1791,  Svo.  4.  "  A  new 
theory  on  the  Basaltes,"  printed  in  Crell's  supplement  to 
the  annals  of  Chemistry.  5.  "  A  description  of  the  foun- 
tain of  Dribourg,"  Ilildesheim,  1782,  Svo.  * 

BEROSUS,  priest  of  the  temple  oi:  Belus  at  Babylon,  in 
the  time  of  Ptolemy  Pbiladelphus.  He  wrote  the  history 
of  Chaldea,  which  is  frequently  quoted  by  the  ancients, 
and  of  which  some  curious  fragments  are  preserved  to  us 
by  Josephus ;  but  he  attributed  an  ideal  antiquity  to  his 
country,  and  mingled  his  accounts  with  astrology.  His 
predictions,  according  to  Pliny,  induced  the  Athenians  to 
place  a  statue  of  him  in  their  gymnasium  with  a  gilded 
tongue.  Five  bool^s  of  antiquities  were  printed  under  the 
name  of  Benosus,  Antwerp,  1545,  Svo,  by  Annius  Viterbo, 
but  they  were  soon  discovered  to  be  forgeries,  * 

BERQUIN  (Arnaud),  a  miscellaneous  French  writer, 
whose  principal  works  are  well-known  in  this  country^ 
was  born  at  Bourdeaux,  about  1749,  and  made  his  first 
appearance  in  the  literary  world  in  1774,  as  the  author  of 
some  Idyls,  admired  for  their  delicacy  and  sensibility. 
The  same  year  he  versified  the  "  Pygmalion"  of  Rousseau ; 
and  after  publishing  in  1775,  Svo,  "  Tableaux  Anglais,'* 
a  translation  of  several  English  essays,  he  wrote  some  ro« 
mances,  of  which-his  "  Genevieve  de  Brabant'*  was  reckon* 
ed  the  best.  He  afterwards  applied  himself  to  the  com- 
position of  books  for  children,  particularly  his  '^Ami  des 
£nfans,"  which  has  been  translatjed  into  English,  his  ^'  Lec- 
tures pour  les  Enfans,  &c."  and  published  translations  of 
^^  Sandford  and  Merton,"  and  some  other  English  books 
calculated  for  the  same  purpose.  All  these  are  included 
in  the  edition  of  his  works  published  by  M.  Renouard,  Pa- 
ris, 1803,  20  vols.  ISmo,  except  his  *^  Tableaux  Anglais.** 
I'he  ^^  Ami  des  Enfans,"  the  most  celebrated  and  popu* 
lar  of  all  his  works,  was  honoured  with  the  prize  given  by 
the  French  academy  for  the  most  useful  book  that  ap- 
peared in  1784.  He  was  for  some  time  editor  of  the  Mo- 
niteur ;  and,  in  conjunction  with  Messrs.  Ginguen6  and 
Grouvelle,    conducted    the    "  Feuille    villageoise.'*      la 

'  Biog.  Universelle. 

*  Morcri. — Biog.  Uaivers«Ue.— Dupii]»<«-Saxii  Oaomaitico^. 


136  B  E  R  Q  U  I  N. 

1791,  he  was  proposed  as  a  candidate  for  tutor  to  the 
Dauphin,  but  died  the  same  year  at  Paris,  Dec.  21.^ 

BERQUIN  (Lewis  De),  a  gentlemaa  of  Artois,  and  a 
man  of  great  learning,  was  burnt  for  being  a  Protestant, 
at  Paris,  1529.  He  was  lord  of  a  village,  whence  he  took 
his  name,  and  for  some  time  made  a  considerable  figure  at 
the  court  of  France,  where  he  was  honoured  with  the  title 
of  king^s  counsellor.  Erasmus  says,  that  his  great  crime 
was  openly  professing  to  hate  the  monks  ;  and  hence  arose 
bis  warm  contest  with  William  Quernus,  one  of  the  most 
violent  inquisitors  of  his  time.  A  charge  of  heresy  was 
contrived  against  him,  the  articles  of  his  accusation  being 
extracted  from  a  book  which  he  had  published,  and  he  was 
committed  to  prison,  but  when  the  affair  came  to  a  trials 
he  was  acquitted  by  the  judges.  His  accusers  pretended 
that  he  would  not  have  escaped,  had  not  the  king  inter* 
posed  his  authority ;  but  Berquiu  himself  'ascribed  it  en- 
tirely to  the  justice  of  his  cause,  and  went  on  with  equal 
courage  in  avowing  his  sentiments.  Some  time  after,  Noel 
Beda  and  his  emissaries  made  extracts  from  some  of  his 
books,  and  having  accused  him  of  pernicious  errors,  he 
was  again  sent  to  prison,  and  the  cause  being  tried,  sen* 
tence  was  passed  against  him;  viz.  that  his  books  be  com- 
mitted to  the  flames,  that  he  retract  his  errors,  and  make 
a  proper  submission,  and  if  he  refuse  to  comply,  that  he 
be  burnt.  Being  a  man  of  an  undaunted  inflexible  spirit, 
he  would  submit  to  nothing ;  and  in  all  probability  would 
at  this  time  have  suffered  death,  had  not  some  of  the  judges, 
who  perceived  the  violence  of  his  accusers,  procured  the 
af&ir  to  be  again  heard  and  examined**  It  is  thought  this 
was  owing  to  the  intercession  of  madame  the  regent.  In  the 
mean  time  Francisl.  returning  from  Spain,  and  finding  the 
danger  his  counsellor  was  in  from  Beda  and  his  faction,  wrote 
to  the  parliament,  telUng  them  to  be  cautious  how  they 
proceeded,  for  that  he  himself  would  take  cognizance  of 
the  affair.  Soon  after  Berquin  was  set  sit  liberty,  which 
gave  him  such  courage,  that  he  turned  accuser  against  his 
accusers,  and  prosecuted  them  for  irreligion,  though,  if  he 
had  taken  the  advice  of  Erasmus,  l^e  would  have  esteemed 
it  a  suflicient  triumph  that  he  had  got  free  from  the  per^ 
secution  of  such  people.     He  was  sent  a  third  time  to  pri- 

}  Biog.  UniveneUe.-y^Dict.  Hist. 


B  E  K  Q  U  I  N.  137 

son,  and  condemned  to  a  public  recantation  and  perpetual 
imprisonment.  Refusing  to  acquiesce  in  this  judgment, 
he  was  condemned  as  an  obstinate  heretic,  strangled  on  the 
Greve,  and  afterwards  burnt.  He  suffered  death  with 
great  constancy  and  resolution,  April  17,  1529,  being  then 
about  40  years  of  age.  The  monk,  who  accompanied  him 
on  'the  scaffold,  declared,  that  he  had  observed  in  him 
signs  of  abjuration :  which  Erasmus  however  believes  to  be 
a  falsehood.  *^  It  is  always,"  says  he,  "  their  custom  in 
like  cases.  These  pious  frauds  serve  to  keep  up  their 
credit  as  the  avengers  of  religion,  and  to  justify  to  the 
deluded  people  those  who  have  accused  and  condemned 
the  burnt  heretic."  Among  his  works  are,  I.**'  hevvBi 
moyen  de  bien  et  catholiquement  se  confesser,"  a  transla* 
tion  from  the  Latin  of  Erasmus,  Lyons,  1542,  16mo.  2. 
**  Le  Chevalier  Chretien,"  1542,  another  translation  ft*om 
Erasmus.  Of  his  other  writings,  we  have  some  account  in 
the  following  extract  from  Chevillier's  History  of  Printing, 
"  In  1523,  May  23,  the  parliament  ordered  the  books  of 
Lewis  de  Berquin  to  be  seized,  and  communicated  to  the 
faculty  of  divinity,  for  their  opinion.  The  book  "  De'ab- 
rogand^  Miss^^'  was  found  upon  him,  with  some  others  of 
Luther's  and  Melancthon's  books;  and  seven  or  eight 
treatises  of  which  he  was  the  author,  some  under  these 
titles  :  "  Speculum  Theologastrorum  ;"  "  De  usu  &  ofHcio 
Missae,  &c."  **  Rationed  Lutheri  quibus  omnes  Christianos 
esse  Sacerdotes  molitur  suadere,"  **  Le  D6bat  de  Pi6t6  & 
Superstition."  There  were  found  also  some  books  which 
he  had  translated  into  French,  as  **  Reasons  why  Luther 
has  caused  the  Decretals  and  all  the  books  of  the  Canon 
Law  to  be  burnt ;"  "  The  Roman  Triad,"  and  others.  The 
&iculty,  after  having  examined  these  books,  judged  that 
they  contained  expressly  the  heresies  and  blasphemies  of 
Luther.  Their  opinion  is"dated  Friday,  July  26,  1523,  and 
addressed  to  the  court  of  parliament.  After  having.given 
their  censure  upon  each  book  in  particular,  they  conclude 
that  they  ought  all  to  be  cast  into  the  6re  ;  that  Berquin 
having  made  himself  the  defender  of  the  Lutheran  here- 
sies, be  ought  to  be  obliged  to  a  public  abjuration,  and  to 
be  forbidden  to  compose  any  book  for  the  future,  or  to 
makp  any  translation  prejudicial  to  the  faith."  \ 

I  (Jen.  pict— 'Foppen  Bibl.  Bejgica,— Moreri. 


ns  B  E  R  R  E  T  I  N  I. 

BERRETINI  (Pietro)  PA  CORTONA,  an  eminent 
artist,  was  born  at  Cortona,  in  1596,  and  according  to 
some  writers,  was  a  disciple  of  Andrea  Commodi,  though 
ottiers  affirm  that  he  was  the  disciple  of  Baccio  Ciarpi ;  and 
Argenville  says,  he  was  successively  the  disciple  of  both. 
He  went  young  to  Rome,  and  applied  himself  diligently  to 
^tudy  the  antiques,  the  works  of  Raphael, .  Buonaroti,  and 
Polidoro  ;  by  which  he  so  improved  his  taste  and  his  hand, 
that  he  distinguished  himself  in  .a  degree  superior  to  any 
of  the  artists  of  his  time.  And  it  >seemed  astonishing  that 
two  such  noble  designs  as  were  the  Rape  of  the  Sabines, 
and  the  Battle  of  Alexander,  which  he  painted  in  the  Pa« 
lazzo  Sacchetti,  could  be  the  product  of  so  young  an 
artist,  when  it  was  observed,  that  for  invention,  disposi- 
tion, elevation  of  thought,  and  an  excellent  tone  of  colour, 
they  were  equal  to  the  performances  of  the  best  masters* 
He  worked  with  remarkable  ease  and  freedom  ;  his  figures 
are  admirably  grouped ;  his  distribution  is  elegant;  and  the 
Chiaroscuro  is  judiciously  observed.  Nothing  can  be  more 
grand  than  his  ornaments ;  and  where  landscape  is  intro* 
duced,  it  is  designed  in  a  superior  taste ;  and  through  his 
whole  compositions  there  appears  an  uncommon  grace. 
But  De  Pile^  observes,  that  it  was  not  such  a  grace  as  wa» 
the  portion  of  Raphael  and  Correggio ;  but  a  general  grace, 
consisting  rather  in  a  habit  of  making  the  airs  of  his  heads 
always  agreeable,  than  in  a  choice  of  expressions  suitable 
to  each  subject  By  the  best  judges  it  seems  to  be  agreed, 
that  although  this  master  was  frequently  incorrect ;  though 
not  always  judicious  in  his  expressions ;  though  irregular 
in  his  draperies,  and-  apt  to  design  his  figures  too  short ' 
and  too  heavy ;  yet,  by  the  magniticence  of  his  composi- 
tion, the  delicate  airs  of  his  faces,  tlie  grandeur  of  his  de- 
corations, and  the  astonishing  suavity  and  gracefulness  of 
the  whole  together,  he  must  be  allowed  to  have  been  the 
most  agreeable  mannerist  that  any  age  hath  produced.  He 
bad  an  eye  for  colour;  but  his  colouring  in  fresco  is  far 
superior  to  what  he  performed  in  oil ;  nor  do  his  easel  pic-* 
tures  appear  as  finished  as  might  be  expected  from  so  great 
a  master,  when  compared  what  what  he  painted  in  a  larger 
size.  Some  of  the  most  capital  wbvks  of  Pietro,  in  fresco, 
are  in  the  Barber ini  palace  at  Rome,  and  the  Palazzo  Pitti 
at  Florence.  Of  his  oil-pictures,  perhaps  none  excels  the 
altar-piece  of  Ananias  healing  St.  Paul,  in  the  church  of 


B  E  R  R  E  T  I  N  I.  13d 

the  Concezione  at  Rome.  Alexander  VII.  created  him 
knight  of  the  golden  spur.  The  grand  duke  Ferdinand  IL 
also  conferred  on  him  several  marks  of  his  esteem.  That 
prince  one  day  admiring  the  figure  of  a  cjiild  weeping, 
which  he  had  just  painted,  he  only  gave  it  one  touch  of 
the  pencil,  and  it  appeared  laughing  ;  then,  with  another 
touch,  he  put  it  in  its  former  state  ;  "  Prince,"  said  Berre- 
tini,  **  you  see  how  easily  children  laugh  and  cry."  He 
was  so  laborious,  that  the  gout,  with  whicii  he  was  tor- 
mented, did  not  prevent  him  from  working ;  but  his  seden- 
tary life,  in  conjunction  with  his  extreme  application, 
augmented  that  cruel  disease,  of  which  he  died  in  1669.' 

BERRIMAN  (William),  a  pious  and  learned  English 
divine,  was  borri  in  London,  September  24,  1688.  Hi» 
father,  John  Berrimah,  was  an  apothecary  in  Bishopsgate- 
street;  and  his  grandfather,  the  reverend  Mr.  Berriman, 
was  rector  of  Bedington,  in  the  county  of  Surrey.  His 
grammatical  education  he  received  partly  at  Banbury,  in 
Oxfordshire,  and  partly  at  Merchant-taylors'  school,  Lon- 
don. At  seventeen  years  of  age  he  was  entered  a  com- 
moner at  Oriel  college,  in  Oxford,  where  he  prosecuted 
his  studies  with  great  assiduity  and  success,  acquiring  a 
critical  skill  in  the  Greek,  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  Arabic,  and 
Syriac.  In  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures,  he  did  not 
attend  to  that  momentary  light  which  fancy  and  imagina- 
tion seemed  to  flash  upon  them,  but  endeavoured  to  e:^plain 
them  by  the  rules  of  grammar,  criticism,  logic,  and  the 
analogy  of  faith.  The  articles  of  doctrine  and  discipline 
which  he  drew  from  the  sacred  writings,  he  traced  through 
the  primitive  church,  and  Confirmed  by  the  evidence  of 
the  fathers,  and  the  decisions  of  the  more  generally  re- 
ceived councils.  On  the  2d  of  June,  1711,  Mr.  Berriman. 
was  admitted  to  the  degree  of  master  of  arts.  After  he 
left  the  university,  he  officiated,  for  some  time,  as  curate 
and  lecturer  of  Allhallows  in  Thames-street,  and  lecturer 
of  St  Michael's,  Queenhithe.  The  first  occasion  of  his 
appearing  in  print  arose  from  the  Trinitarian  controversy. 
He  published,  in  1719,  *^  A  seasonable  review  of  Mr.  Whis- 
ton's  account  of  Primitive  Doxologies,"  which  was  followed, 
in  the  same  year,  by  "  A  second  review.'*  These  pieces 
recommended  him  so  effectually  to  the  notice  of  Dr.  Ro- 
binson, bishop  of  London,  that  in  1720,  he  was  appointed 

.  ^  PilkiDgtoD*— D'Ar^anville^  £&c« 


140 


B  E  R  R  I  M  A  N, 


his  lordship's  domestic  chaplain ;  and  so  well  satisfied  wad 
that  prelate  with  Mr.  Berriman's  integrityi  abilities,  and 
application,  that  he  consulted  and  entrusted  him  in  most 
of  his  spiritual  and  secular  concerns.  As  a  further  proof 
of  his  approbation,  the  bishop  collated  him,  in  April  1722^ 
to  the  living  of  St.  Andrew-Undershaft.  On  the  25th  of 
June,  in  the  same  year,  he  accumulated,  at  Oxford,  the 
degrees  of  bachelor  and  doctor  in  divinity.  In  1723,  Dr. 
Berriman  lost  his  patron^  the  bishop  6f  London,  who,  in 
testimony  of  his  regard  to  his  chaplain,  bequeathed  hin^ 
the  fifth  part  of  his  large  and  valuable  library.  In  conse* 
quence  of  the  evidence  our  learned  divine  had  already 
given  of  his  zeal  and  ability  in  defending  the  commonly- 
received  doctrine  of  the  Triility,  he  was  ajppointed  to  preach 
lady  Moyer's  lecture,  in  1723  and  1724.  The  eight  ser- 
mons he  had  delivered  on  the  occasion,  were  published  in 
1725,  under  the  title  of  "An  historical,  account  of  the 
Trinitarian  Controvery."  This  work,  in  the  opinion  of 
Dr.  Godolphin,  provost  of  Eton  college,  merited  a  much 
greatep  reward  than  lady  Moyer's  donation.  Accordingly, 
he  soon  found  an  opportunity  of  conferring  such  a  reward 
upon  Dr.  Berriman,  by  inviting  him,  without  solicitation, 
to  accept  of  a  fellowship  in  his  college.  Our  author  was 
elected  fellow  in  1727,  and  from  that  time  he  chiefly  re- 
sided at  Eton  in  the  Summer,  and  at  his  parsonage-house 
in  the  Winter.  His  election  into  the  college  at  Eton  was  a 
benefit  and  ornament  to  that  society.  He  was  a  faithful 
steward  in  their  secular  afiairs,  was  strictly  observant  of 
their  local  statute3,  and  was  a  benefactor  to  the  college,  in 
his  will.  While  the  doctor's  learned  productions  obtained 
for  him  the  esteem  and  friendship  of  several  able  and  va- 
luable men,  and,  among  the  rest,  of  Dr.  Waterland,  it  is 
not,  at  the  same  time,  surprising,  that  they  should  excite 
antagonists.  One  of.  these,  who  then  appeared  without  a 
name,  and  who  at  first  treated  our  author  with  decency 
and  respect,  was  Dr.  Conyers  Middleton  ;  but  afterwards, 
when  Dr.  Middleton  published  his  Introductory  Discourse 
to  the  Inquiry  into  the  miraculous  powers  of  the  Christian 
church,  and  the  Inquiry  itself,  ha  chose  to  speak  of 
Dr.  Berriman  with  no  small  degree  of  severity  and  con* 
tempt.  In  answer  to  the  attacks  made  upon  him,  our  di- 
vine printed  in  1731,  "A  defence  of  some  passages  \n 
the  Historical  Account."  In  1733,  came  out  his  *^  Brief 
remarks  on  Mr.  Chandler'^  introduction  to  the  history  of 


fe  E  R  R  I  M  A  N.  141 

the  Inquisition,"  which  was  followed  by  "  A  review  of  the 
Remarks.  His  next  publication  was  his  course  of  sermons 
at  Mr.  Boyle's  lecture,  preached  in  1730,  1731,  and  1732, 
and  published  in  2  vols.  1733,  8vo.  The  author,  in  this 
work,  states  the  evidence  of  our  religion  from  the  Old 
Testament ;  vindicates  the  Christian  interpretation  of  the 
ancient  prophecies ;  and  points  out  the  historical  chain 
and  connection  of  these  prophecies.  In  the  preface,  he 
asserts  the  authority  pf  Moses,  as  an.  inspired  historian  and 
law-giver,  against  his  old  antagonist  Dr.  Middleton  ;  who, 
in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Waterland,  had  disputed  the  literal  ac- 
count of  the  fall,  and  had  expressed  himself  with  his  usual 
scepticism  concerning  the  divine  origin  of  the  Mosaic  in- 
stitution, as  well  as  the  divine  inspiration  of  its  founder. 
Besides  the  writings  we  have  mentioned.  Dr.  Berrimau 
printed  a  number  of  occasional  sermons,  and,  among  the 
rest,  one  on  the  Sunday  before  his  induction  to  his  living 
of  St.  Andrew  Undershaft,  and  another  on  Family  Religion. 
He  departed  this  life  at  his  house  in  London,  on  the  5th 
of  February,  1749-50,  in  the  62d  year  of  his  age.  His 
funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  the  rev.  Glocester  Ridley, 
LL.  B.  containing  many  of  the  particulars  here  noticed. 
Such  was  Dr.  Berriman's  integrity,  that  no  ill  usage  could 
provoke  him,  no  friendship  seduce  him,  no  ambition  tempt 
him,  no  interest  buy  him,  to  do  a  wrong,  or  violate  his  con- 
science. When  a  certain  right  reverend  prelate,  unso- 
licited, and  in  pure  respect  to  his  distinguished  merit, 
offered  him  a  valuable  prebend  in  his  cathedral  church  of 
Lincoln,  the  doctor  gratefully  acknowledged  the  generosity 
of  thp  offer,  but  conscientiously  declined  it,  as  he  was 
bound  from  accepting  of  it  by  the  statutes  of  his  college. 
The  greatest  difficulty  of  obtaining  a  dispensation  w^as  from 
himself.  In  the  year  of  his  decease,  forty  of  his  sermons 
were  published,  in  two  volumes,  8vo,  by  his  brother,  John 
Berriman,  M.  A.  rector  of  St.  Alban's,  Wood-street,  under 
the  title  of  "  Christian  doctrines  and  duties  explained  and 
recommended.''  In  1763,  nineteen  sermons  appeared  in 
one  volume,  under  the  same  title.  With  respect  to  Dr. 
Berriman's  practical  discourses,  it  is  allowed  that  they  are 
grave,  weighty,  and  useful ;  and  well  fitted  to  promote 
pious  and  virtuous  dispositions,  but  belong  to  a  class  which 
have  never  been  eminently  popular. 

The  Rev.  John  Beuriman,  above-mentioned,  was  born  in 
.1689,    and  educated  at  St.  Edmund  hall,    Oxford,    and 


142  B  E  a  R  I  M  A  N. 

after  taking  orders,  i^as  for  many  years  curate  of  St  Swithifr^ 
and  lecturer  of  St.  Mary  Aldermanbury^  but  in  1744  was 
presented  to  the  rectory  of  St.  Alban's,  which  he  retained 
until  his  death,  Dec.  8,  1768,  being  then  the  oldest  incum'- 
bent  in  London.  He  published  a  sermon  on  the  30th  of 
January,  1721  ;  and  in  1741,  "Eight  Sermons  at  lady 
Meyer's  lecture,"  entirely  of  the  critical  kind,  and  giving 
an  account  of  above  a  hundred  Greek  MSS.  of  St  Paul's 
Epistles,  many  of  them  not  before  collated.* 

BERRUGUETE  (Alonzo),  an  eminent  Spanish  pain- 
ter, sculptor,  and  architect,  was  born  at  Parades^  de  Nava,. 
near  Valladolid.  He  went  when  young  into  Italy,  studied 
under  Michael  Angelo,  and  became  the  friend  and  inti- 
mate of  Andrea  del  Sarto,  Baccio,  Bandinelli,  and  other 
celebrated  artistfj.  After  having  finished  his  education,  he 
returned  to  Spain,  and  afforded  eminent  proofs  of  his  ta- 
lents in  the  Prado  of  Madrid,  and  the  Alhambra  of  Gre- 
nada. The  emperor  Charles  V.  who  admired  his  extensive 
and  various  talents^  bestowed  on  him  the  order  of  knight- 
hood, and  appointed  him  gentleman  of  his  chamber.  After 
establishing  a  high  reputation  and  a  great  fortune,  Ber- 
ruguete  died  at  Madrid  in  1545,  advanced  in  years.  In 
the  cathedral  of  Toledo,  is  one  of  his  finest  sculptures,  the 
Transfiguration,  and  some  other  beautiful  carvings  in  the 
choir,  one  side  of  which  was  thus  decorated  by  him,  the 
other  by  Philip  de  Borgona.  His  style  possessed  much  of 
the  sublime  manner  of  his  great  master,  and  he  was  justly 
admired  by  his  countrymen,  as  being  the  first  who  intro- 
duced the  true  principles  of  the  fine  arts  into  Spain.  * 

BERRUYER  (Joseph  Isaac),  a  celebrated  French  wri- 
ter, of  the  order  of  Jesus,  was  born  at  Rouen  in  Nor- 
mandy, Nov.  7,  1681.  He  was  designed  for  the  pulpit, 
but  the  weakness  of  his  frame  not  allowing  him  to  declaim, 
he  gave  himself  up  to  the  quiet  but  severe  studies  of  the 
closet,  and  produced  some  critical  works  of  importance, 
which  his  countrymen  in  their  spirit  of  intolerance  thought 
fit  to  suppress :  and  the  reading  of  his  "  Histoire  du  peu- 
ple  de  Dieu"  was  forbid  by  the  archbishop  of  Paris,  which 
the  Sorbonne  were  six  years  reviewing.  The  first  part  of 
'  this  work  made  its  appearance  in  8  vols.  4to,  with  a  sup- 
plement, 1728,  reprinted  in  1733,  8  vols.  4to,  and  10  vols. 

*  Biog.  Brit — Nichols's  Literary  Anecdotes.— Harwood^s  Alumni  Etonenses. 
— Dr.  Ridley's  Fun.  SermoD. — biographical  Dictionary,  2d  edit.  1784. 

*  Sio^.  Universelle.— Cumberlaad's  Aaecdotes  of  Spanish  painters,  voL  L  2X 


B  E  R  II  U  Y  E  R.  143 

12mo ;  this  ends  With  the  times  of  the  Messiah  :  the  second 
part  came  out  in  1753  in  4  vols.  4to,  and  8  vols.  12moi 
and  the  third  part  in  2  vols.  4 to,  or  5  vols,  in  12mo,  con- 
taining a  literal  paraphrase  of  the  epistles,  was  printed  ia 
1758,  notwithstanding  it  was  censured  and  condemned  by 
the  pope  and  clergy  as  containing  abominable  errors. 
Abominable  absurdities  it  certainly  contained,  the  history 
of  the  Jews  being  detailed  with  all  the  affectation  of  senti-- 
mental  romance*  The  author  died  at  Paris,  Feb.  18, 
1758.' 

BERRY  (Sir  John),  a  naval  commander,   a  native  of 
Devonshire,  where  he  was  born  in  1635,  became  success- 
ful against  the  Buccaneers  who  infested  the  Atlantic  ocean, 
and  distinguished  himself  at  the  famous  battle  of  South- 
wold-bay,  for  which  he  wasTcnighted.     In  1682,  he  com- 
manded the  Gloucester  frigate,  on   board  of  which  the 
duke  of  York  embarked  for  Scotland  ;  but  by  the  careless- 
ness of  the  pilot,  the  vessel  was  lost  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Humber.     In  the  midst  of  this  confusion,  sir  John  retained 
that  presence  of  mind  for  which  he  was  always  remarkable, 
and  by  that  means  preserved  the  duke  and  as  many  of  his 
retinue  as  the  long-boat  would  carry.     Soon  after  he  was 
promoted  to  a  flag,  and  commanded  as  vice-admiral  under 
lord  Dartmouth,  at  the  demolition  of  Tangier,  and  on  his  re- 
turn was  made  a  commissioner  of  the  navy ;  which  post  he 
enjoyed  till  his  death.     He  was  in  great  favour  with  king 
James  II.  who  made  choice  of  him  to  command  under  lord 
Dartmouth,  when  the  prince  of  Orange  landed  in  Eng- 
land ;  and  when  his  lordship  left  the  fleet,  the  whole  com- 
mand devolved  on  sir  John  Berry,  who  held  it  till  the  ships 
were  laid  up.     Aftfer  the  revolution  sir  John  continued  iu 
his  posts,  and  was  frequently  consulted  by  king  William, 
who  entertained  a  high  opinion  of  his  abilities  in  military 
affairs;  but  he  was  poisoned  in  the  beginning  of  February, 
1691,  on  board  one  of  his  majesty's  ships  at  Portsmouth, 
where  he  was  paying  her  off,  in  the  56th  year  of  his  age. 
The  cause  of  this  catastrophe  was  never  discovered,  and  it 
was  probably  accidental.     His  body  was  brought  to  Lon- 
don and  .interred  at  Stepney,  and  a  fine  monument  after- 
wards erected  to  his  memory.  * 

BERRY  (William),  an  ingenious  Scotch  artist,  was  one 
of  those  who  owe  more  to  nature  than  to  instruction:   of 

*  Bioj.  Universelle.— Diet.  Hist.  »  Prinpe's  Worthies  of  DeroH. 


144  B  E  R  R  Y. 

his  parentage  we  have  no  account,  but  he  appears  to  have 
been  born  about  1730,  and  at  the  usual  time  bound  appren- 
tice to  Mr.  Proctor,  a  seal  engraver  in  Edinburgh.  How 
long  he  remained  with  him  is  uncertain,  but  for  some  years 
after  he  began  business  for  himself,  he  pursued  the  same 
branch  with  his  teacher.  At  this  time,  however,  his  designs 
were  so  elegant,  and  his  mode  of  cutting  so  clean  and  sharp, 
as  soon  to  make  him  be  taken  notice  of  as  a  superior  artist. 
At  length  by  constantly  studying  and  admiring  the  style 
of  the  antique  entaglios,  he  resolved  to  attempt  something 
of  that  sort  himself;  and  the  subject  he  chose  was  a  head 
of  sir  Isaac  Newton,  which  he  executed  in  a  style  of  such 
superior  excellence,  as  astonished  all  who  had  an  oppor- 
tunity of  observing  it.  But  as  he  was  a  man  of  the  most 
unaffected  modesty,  and  as  this  head  was  given  to  a  friend 
in  a  retired  situation  in  life,  it  was  known  only  to  a  few  in 
the  private  circle  of  his  acquaintance ;  and  for  many  years 
was  scarcely  ever  seen  by  any  one  who  could  justly  appre- 
ciate its  merit.  Owing  to  these  circumstances,  Mr.  Berry 
was  permitted  to  waste  his  time,  during  the  best  part  of  hi* 
life,  in  cutting  heraldic  seals,  for  which  he  found  a  much 
greater  demand  than  for  fine  heads,  at  such  a  price  as 
could  indemnify  him  for  the  time  that  was  necessarily  spent 
in  bringing  works  of  such  superior  excellence  to  perfection. 
He  often  told  the  writer  of  this  account,  that  though  some 
gentlemen  pressed  him  very  much  to  make  fine  heads  for 
them,  yet  he  always  found  that,  when  he  gave  in  his  bill 
for  an  article  of  that  kind,  though  he  had  charged  perhaps 
not  more  than  half  the  money  that  he  could  halve  earned  in 
the  same  time  at  his  ordinary  work,  they  always  seetned 
to  think  the  price  too  high,  which  made  him  exceedingly 
.  averse  to  employment  of  that  sort. 

The  impulse  of  genius,  however,  got  so  far  the  better  of 
prudential  considerations,  that  he  executed,  during  the 
course  of  his  life,  ten  or  twelve  heads,  any  one  of  which 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  insure  him  immortal  fame 
among  judges  of  excellence  in  this  department.  ■  Among 
these  were  the  heads  of  Thomson  the  poet,  Mary  queen  of 
Scots,  Oliver  Cromwell,  Julius  Caesar,  a  young  Hercules, 
and  Mr.  Hamilton  of  Bangour,  the  poet.  Of  these  only 
two  copies  were  from  the  antique,  and  they  were  executed 
iu  the  finest  style  of  those  celebrated  entaglios.  The 
young  Hercules  in  particular,  which,  if  we  mistake  not, 
belongs  to  the  earl  of  Findlater,  possessed  that  unaffected 


]3  E  R  R  Y.  145 

plain  simplicitjr,  and  natural  concurrence  in  the  same  ex*' 
pression  of  youthful  innocence  through  all  the  features^ 
conjoined  with  strength  and  dignity,  which  is,  perhaps,  the 
most  difficult  of  all  expressions  to  be  hit  off  by  the  most 
faithful  imitator  of  nature. 

Mr.  Berry  possessed  that  very  nice  perceptive  faculty, 
which  constitutes  the  essence  of  genius  in  the  fine  arts,  in 
fiuch  a  high  degree,  as  to  prove  even  a  bar  to  his  attaining 
that  superior  excellence  in  this  department,  which  nature 
had  evidently  qualified  him  for.  Even  in  his  best  per- 
formance he  thought  he  perceived  defects,  which  no  one 
else  remarked,  and  which  the  circumstances  above  alluded 
to  prevented  him  from  correcting.  While  others  admired 
with  unbounded  applause,  he  looked  upon  his  own  per- 
formances with  a  kind  of  vexation,  at  finding  the  execu- 
tion not  to  have  atcaitied  the  high  perfection  he  conceived 
to  be  attainable.  And  not  being  able  to  afford  the  time  to 
perfect  himself  in  that  nice  department  of  his  art,  he  be- 
came extremely  averse  to  attempt  it.  Yet,  in  spite  of  this 
aversion,  the  few  pieces  above  named,  and  some  others, 
were  extorted  from  him  by  degrees,  and  they  came  gra- 
dually to  be  known :  and  wherever  they  were  known,  they 
were  admired,  as  superior  to  every  thing  produced  in 
modern  times,  unless  it  was  by  Piccler  of  Rome,  who  in 
the  same  art,  but  with  much  greater  practice  in  it,  had 
justly  attained  a  high  degree  of  celebrity.  Between  the 
excellence  of  these  two  artists,  connoisseurs  differed  in 
opinion ;  some  being  inclined  to  give  the  palm  to  Berry, 
while  others  preferred  Piccler.  The  works  of  these  two 
artists  were  well  known  to  each  other  ;  and  each  declared^ 
with  that  manly  ingenuousness,  which  superior  genius  alone 
can  confer  on  the  human  mind^  that  the  other  was  greatly 
his  superior. 

Mr.  Berry  possessed  not  merely  the  art  of  imitating 
busts,  or  figures  set  before  him,  in  which  he  could  observe  . 
and  copy  the  prominence  or  the  depression  of  the  parts, 
but  he  possessed  a  faculty  which  presupposes  a  much  nicer 
discrimination  ;  that  of  being  able  to  execute  a  figure  in 
relievo,  with  perfect  justness,  in  all  its  parts,  which  was 
copied  from  a  drawing  or  a  painting  upon  a  fiat  surface. 
This  was  fairly  put  to  the  test  in  the  head  be  executed  of 
Hamilton  of  Bangour,  a  person  he  never  saw :  it  was  not  only 
one  of  the  most  perfect  likenesses  that  could  be  wished  for, 
although  he  had  only  an  imperfect  sketch  to  copy,  but  there 

VoJL.  V.  L 


146  B  E  R  R  V 

was  a  correctness  in  the  outline,  and  a  trihh  and  delicacy 
in  the  expression  of  the  features,  highly  emulous  of  the 
best  antiques,  which  were  iVideed  the  models  on  which  he 
formed  his  taste. 

Besides  the  heads  above  named,  he  also  execuled  some 
full  length  figures  both  of  men  and  other  animals,  in  a 
style  of  superior  elegance.  But  that  attention  to  the  in- 
terests of  a  numerous  family,  which  a  man  of  sound  prin- 
ciples, as  Mr.  Berry  was,  could  never  allow  him  to  lose 
sight  of,  made  him  forego  these  amusing  exertions,  for  the 
more  lucrative,  though  less  pleasing  employment,  of  cut- 
ting heraldic  seals,  which  may  be  said  to  have  been  his 
constant  employment  from  morning  to  night,  for  forty 
years  together,  with  an  assiduity  that  has  few  examples  in 
modem  times.  In  this  department,  he  was  without  dispute 
the  first  artist  of  his  time ;  but  even  here,  that  modesty 
which  was  so  peculiarly  his  own,  and  that  invariable  desire 
to  give  full  perfection  to  evety  thing  he  put  out  of  his 
hands,  prevented  him  from  drawing  such  emoluments  frOm 
his  labours  as  they  deserved.  Of  this  the  following  anec- 
dote will  serve  as  an  illustration,  and  as  an  additional  testi- 
mony of  his  very  great  skill.  A  certain  noble  duke,  when 
he  succeeded  to  his  estate,  was  desirous  of  having  a  seal 
cut  with  his  arms,  &c.  properly  blazoned  upon  it.  But  as 
there  were  no  less  than  thirty-two  compartments  in  the 
shield,  which  was  of  necessity  confined  to  a  very  small 
space,  so  as  to  leave  room^  for  the  supporters,  and  other 
ornaments,  within  the  compass  of  a  seal  of  an  ordinary  size, 
he  found  it  a  matter  of  great  difficulty  to  get  it  executed. 
Though  a  native  of  Scotland  himself,  the  duke  never  ex- 
pected to  find  a  man  of  the  first-rate  eminence  in  Edin- 
burgh ;  but  applied  to  the  most  eminent  seal-engravers  in 
London  and  Paris^  all  of  whom  declined  it  as  a  thing  be- ^ 
yond'  their  power.  At  this  time  Berry,  of  whom  he  had 
scarcely  heard,  was  mentioned  to  him  in  such  a  manner 
that  he  went  to  him,  accompanied  by  a  friend,  and  found 
him,  as  usu^l,  sitting  at  his  wheel.  Without  introducing 
the  duke,  the  gentleman  showed  Berry  an  impression  of  a 
seal  that  the  duchess  dowager  had  got  cut  a  good  many 
years  before  by  a  Jew  in  London,  who  was  dead  before  the 
duke  thought  of  his  seal,  and  which  had  been  shewn  to  the 
others  as  a  pattern,  asking  him  if  he  would  cut  a  seal  the 
same  with  that  After  examining  it  a  little,  Mr.  Berry 
answered  readily  that  he  would.    The  duke,  pleased  and 


BERRY.  147 

astonished  at  the  same  time,  cried  out,  *^  Will  you,  in* 
deed  P'  Mr.  Berry,  who  thought  this  implied  some  sort  of 
doubt  of  his  abilities,  was  a  little  piqued  at  it;  and  turning 
round  to  the  duke,  whom  he  had  never  seen  before,  nor 
knevV ;  ^^  Yes  (said  he,)  sir ;  if  I  do  not  make  a  better  seal 
than  this,  I  shall  take  no  payment  for  it."  The  duke, 
highly  pleased,  left  the  pattern  with  Mr.  Berry,  and  went 
away.  The_  pattern  seal  contained,  indeed,  the  various 
devices  on  the  thirty-two  compartments,  distinctly  enough 
to  be  seen,  but  none  of  the  colours  were  expressed.  Mr. 
Berry,  in  a  proper  time,  finished  the  seal ;  on  which  the 
figures  were  not  only  done  with  superior  elegance,  but  the 
colours  on  every  part  so  distinctly  marked,  that  a  painter 
could  delineate  the  whole,  or  a  herald  blazoi:\  it,  with  the 
most  perfect  accuracy.  For  this  extraordinary  exertion  of 
talents,  he  charged  no  more  than  thirty- two  guineas,  though 
the  pattern  seal  bad  cost  seventy-five.  Thus  it  was,  that, 
notwithstanding  he  possessed  talents  of  the  most  superior 
kind,  and  assiduity  almost  unequalled,  observing  at  all 
times  a  strict  economy  in  his  family,  Mr.  Berry  died  at 
last,  in  circumstances  that  were  not  affluent,  on  the  3d  of 
June,  1783,  in  the  53d  year  of  his  age,  leaving  a  numerous 
family  of  children.  Besides  his  eminence  as  an  artist,  he 
was  distinguished  by  the  integrity  of  his  moral  character, 
and  the  strict  principles  of  honour  which  on  all  occasion^ 
influenced  his  conduct. ' 

BERRYAT  (John),  physician  in  ordinary  to  the  king; 
and  intendant  of  the  mineral  waters  of  France,  a  corre- 
spondent of  the  academy  of  sciences,  and  member  of  that  of 
Auxerre,  who  died  in  1754,  is  chiefly  known  as  the  projec- 
tor of  the  ^*  CoUectiqn  Acad^mique,''  containing  extracts 
of  the  most  important  articles  in  .the  memoirs  of  various 
learned  societies.  He  published  the  first  two  volumes  at 
Dijon,  1754,  4to.  The  plan  was  good,  but  he  gave  the 
articles  so  much  at  length,  that  an  abridgment  would  b^ 
necessary  to  render  it  useful.  It  was  continued  by  Me^rs. 
Guenau  de  Montbeillard,  Buflbn,  Daubenton,  Larcher,  &c. 
and  forms  33  vols.  4to,  with  the  tables  of  the  abb6  Rozier. 
Berryat  also  published  "  Observations  physiques  et  medi- 
cinales  sur  les  eaux  minerales  d'Epoigny,''  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Auxerre,  and  printed  at  Auxerre,  1752,12mo.' 

I  Dr.  James  Anderson's  Bee,  or  Literary  IntelH^enceri  for  March,  1793. 
«  Bio5.  UniT.— Diet.  HisU 

L  2 


148  B  E  R  S  M  A  N  N. 

BERSMANN  (GREGOftY),  a  native  of  Germany,  wa« 
born  March  11,  1538,  at  Annaberg,  a  little  town  of  Misnia^ 
near  the  river  Schop,  on  the  side  of  Bohemia.  He  was 
educated  with  care,  and  made  great  progress  in  the  sciences. 
He  was  particularly  fond  of  the  study  of  medicine,  physics, 
the  belles-lettres,  and  the  learned  languages.  He  excelled 
in  Latin  and  Greek,  and  took  delight  in  travelling  over 
France  and  Italy  for  forming  acquaintance  with  those  who 
were  in  most  reputation  among  the  literati.  On  his  return, 
he  was  successively  professor  of  poetry  and  Greek  at  Wit- 
temberg  and  Leipsic,  but  being  unwilling  to  sign  the  for- 
mulary of  concord,  he  was  dismissed  in  1580,  and  went 
into  the  territories  of  the  prince  of  Anhalt-Zerbst,  where  he 
died  the  5th  of  October  1611,  in  the  seventy- third  year  of 
his  age.  Bersmann  put  into  verse  the  Psalms  of  David,  and 
published  editions  of  Virgil,  1581,  Ovid,  1582,  -^sop,1590, 
and  of  Horace,  Lucan,  Cicero,  and  other  ^uthors  of  an- 
tiquity. He  was  not  less  fertile  in  body  tlian  in  mind ; 
having  fourteen  sons  and  six  daughters  by^his  marriage 
with  a  daughter  of  Peter  Hellebron.  Freyer,  however, 
says  that  he  had  only  four  sons.  ^ 

BERTAUT  (John),  first  chaplain  to  queen  Catherine 
de  Medicis,  secretary  of  the  cabinet  and  reader  to  Henry 
in.  counsellor  of  state,  abbot  of  Aulnai,  and  lastly  bishop 
of  Seez,  was  bom  at  Caen  in  the  year  1522,  and  died  the 
8th  of  June  1611,  aged  fifty-nine.  He  was  the  contem- 
porary and  friend  of  Ronsard  and  Desportes,  and  was 
thought  superior  to  either.  Some  of  his  stanzas  are  writ- 
ten with  ease  and  elegance ;  and  have  not  been  excelled 
by  the  best  poets  of  our  own  times.  He  has  left  poems 
sacred  and  profane,  canticles,  songs,  sonnets,  and  psalms. 
They  are  .interspersed  with  several  happy  thoughts,  but 
turned  in  points,  a  taste  which  he  caught  from  Seneca. 
He  seems  to  have  conducted  himself  with  great  propriety 
after  his  being  advanced  to  the  prelacy^  and  the  bishop 
blushed  at  the  gaiety  of  the  courtier,  but  he  had  too 
much  fondness  for  his  early  productions  to  consign  them 
to  oblivion,  and  he  published  them  with  his  pious  pieces, 
^'  the  bane  and  antidote.'*  He  left  also  a  translation  of 
some  books  of  St,  Ambrose,  several  controversial  tracts, 
imperfect ;  sermons  for  the  principal  festivals  of  the  church, 

^  Biog.   Univ.— Diet  Hiit.-^7reyeri  Theatnim.— Melchior  Adam  in  vitk 
Thilof .— SaxU  Onomatt. 


B  E  R  T  A  U  T.  149 

aod  a  funeral  discourse  on  Henry  IV.  to  whose  conversion 
be  had  greatly  coutiibuted.  lie  was  oincle  to  niadame  de 
Motteville,  first  woman  of  the  bedchamber  to  Anne  of 
Austria,  and  who  published  the  memoirs  of  that  princess. 
His  ^*  Oeuvres  poetiques'*  were  printed  at  Paris,  1602, 8vo, 
and  with  additions  in  1605 ;  but  the  Paris  editions  of  1620 
and  1623,  8vd,  are  the  most  complete.  ^ 

BERTEL,  or  BEtlTELS  (John),  in  Latin  Bertelius, 
was  born  at  Louvain,  and,  in  1576,  embraced  the  monastic 
life,  in  the  monastery  of  St  Benedict,  of  which  he  was. 
abb^  for  nineteen  years.  He  then  removed  to  the  abbey 
of  Ecbternach,  but  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  Dutch  in 
1596,  and  was  not  released  without  paying  a  very  large 
sum.  He  died  at  Echternach,  June  19,  1607.  He  pub- 
lished, 1.  ^^  In  regulam  D.  Benedicti,  dialogi  viginti  sex  : 
catalogus  et  series  abbatum  Externacensium''  (of  Echter* 
nach)  Cologne,  1581,  8vo.  2.  ^^  Historia  Luxemburgensis^ 
seu  Commefftarius  quo  ducum  Luxemburgensium  ortus^ 
progressus  ac  res  gestae  accurate  describuntur,'^  Cologne^ 
I605p  4to.'  At  the  end  of  this  is  a  dissertation  on  the  god$ 
and  sacrifices  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Luxemburgh.. 
The  ^^  Respublica  Luxemburgica,''  one  of  Bleau*s  little 
^^  Republics,^'  1635,  24mo,  was  merely  an  extract  from 
BertePs  history. ' 

BERTHAULD  (Peter),  a  French  historian,  was  born, 
at  Sens  in  1600,  and  entered  early  into  the  congregation 
of  the  oratory,  where  he  taught  rhetoric  at  Marseilles^  after 
that  college  had  been  founded  in  1625.  In  1659,  he  be-, 
came  titular  of  the  archdeaconry  of  Dunois  in  the  church 
of  Chartres,  and  next  year  he  obtained  a  canonry,  and  in 
1666  was  promoted  to  the  deanery  of  the  same  church. 
His  <<  Florus  Gallicus,"  and  *^  Florus  Franciscus,"  which 
were  long  popular  works,  and  esteemed  the  best  abridg- 
ments of  French  history,  are  praised  by  Le  Long  for  their  * 
style ;  but  the  work  from  which  he  derived  most  reputation 
was  his  learned  dissertation  ^^  De  Ara,"  Nantes,  1633.  He 
had  some  talent  also  for  Latin  poetry,  and  published  oc- 
casional pieces  of  that  kind,  as  his  encomium  on  the  city  of 
Troyes,  where  he  was  educated,  1631,  8vo,  and  the  de- 
liverance of  Casal,  ^^  Casallum  bis  liberatum."  Cardinal 
Richelieu,  who  valued  bim^  would  have  promoted  him  to 

» 

^  Moreru— Baillet  Jagemeni  d«  Sayans.— Biog.  UoiT.— Diet.  HiiU 
s  Biog.  Unif.^Foppen  Bibl.  Belg. 


150  B  E  R  T  H  A  U  L  D. 

a  bishopric,  bu,t  he  was  dissuaded  by  father  Sancy  de  Har- 
lay,  who,  among  all  Berthauld's  powers,  did  not  discover 
that  of  governing  a  diocese.     He  died  Oct.  19,  1681.* 

BERTHEAU  (Charles),  a  learned  French  protestant 
divine,  long  resident  in  London,  was  born  in  1 660  at  Mont- 
pelier :  he  studied  philosophy  and  divinity,  partly  in  France 
and  partly  in  Holland,  and  was  admitted  a  minister  in  the 
synod  held  at  Vigan  in  1681,  and  was  next  year  chosen 
pastor  to  the  church  of  Montpelier ;  but  he  did  not  make 
any  long  stay  in  that  city,  for  he  was  soon*  after  promoted 
to  be  one  of  the  ministers  of  the  church  of  Paris.  On  the 
revocation  of  the  edict  of  Nantz,  Mr.  Bertheau  found  him- 
self obliged  to  quit  his  native  country.  He  accordingly 
came  to  England  in  1685,  and  the  following  year  was 
chosen  one  of  the  niinisters  of  the  Walloon  church  in 
Threadneedle  street,  London,  where  he  discharged  the 
duties  of  the  pastoral  office  for  about  forty^four  years,  in 
such  a  manner  as  procured  him  very  general  applause.  He 
died  25th  Dec.  1732,  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age. 
He  possessed  considerable  abilities,  was  distinguished  for 
his  good  sense  and  sound  judgment,  and  for  a  retentive 
memory.  He  was  a  very  eloquent  preacher,  and  has  left 
behind  him  two  volumes  of  sermons  printed  in  French,  the 
first  in  1712,  the  second  in  1730,  with  a  new  edition  of 
the  first.  One  of  these  sermons  is  on  a  singular  subject, 
which,  probably,  would  not  have  occurred  to  him  so  readily 
in  any  city  as  in  London,  "  On  inquiring  after  news  in  a 
Christian  manner,"  from  Acts  xvii.  21.* 

BERTHET  (John),  a  learned  Jesuit,  was  born  at  Ta- 
rascon  in  Provence,  Feb.  24,  1622.  Possessed  of  a  remark- 
able memory,  he  made  great  piroficiency  in  ancient  and 
modern  languages,  and  acquired  much  fame  as  a  teacher 
of  humanity,  philosophy,  and  divinity  in  the  various  col- 
*  leges  of  his  order.  He  also  engaged  in  public  disputations 
at  Lyons,  with  the  clergry  of  Geneva  and  Grenoble,  but 
was  dismissed  from  the  Jesuits  by  order  of  Louis  XIV.  for 
having  had  the  weakness  or  curiosity  to  consult  a  pro-* 
phetess  who  made  a  noise  among  the  credulous  at  Paris. 
Re  then  entered  among  the  Benedictines,  and  died  at  their^ 
college  at  Oulx,  in  1692.  He  published,  1.  "  Trait6  de 
la  presence  reelie.**  2.  *'  Trait6  historique  de  la  charge  de 
grand  aumonierde  France,''  a  very  curious  work.  3. "Traits 

*  Biog.  Uni?. — ^Morejri.<-^Sa]iu  OdodusI^  *  Blog.  Brit. 


B  E  R  T  H  E  T.  J51 

sur  la  chapelle  des  dues  de  Bourgogne."  He  wrote  also 
several  other  pieces  on  the  Tiietouic  order,  the  abbey  of 
Cluni,  the  rights  of  the  king  to  Avignon  and  Venaissin,  the 
East  Indies,  the  Italian  language,  and  chronology ;  some 
of  which  still  remain  in  manuscript;  and  various  Latin, 
French,  Italian,  and  Provencal  pieces  of  poetry.  His  cor- 
respondence with  men  of  learning  both  in  France  and  fo- 
reign countries  was  very  extensive. ' 

BERTHIER  (William  Francis),   a  French  writer  of 
considerable  note,  was  born  at  Issoudun  en  Berri  April  7, 
1704,  and  entered  among  the  Jesuits  in  1722.     He  was 
professor  of  humanity  at  Blois,  of  philosophy  at  Rennes 
and  Rouen,  and  of  divinity  at  Paris.     The  talents  he  dis- 
played in  these  offices  made   him  be  chosen  in  1742  to 
succeed  father  Bnimoy,  in  the  continuation  of  his  "His- 
tory of  the  Gallican  Church."     This  he  executed  with 
general  approbation.     In  1745  his  superiors  enjployed  him 
on  the  Journal  de  Trevoux,  which  he  conducted  for  seven- 
teen years,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  learned  and  the  pub- 
lic in  general.     This  employment,  says  the  abb6  de  Fon- 
tenay,  procured  him  a  high  reputation,  by  the  care  and 
accuracy  evident  in  the  analysis  of  the  works  that  came 
before  him,  and  by  the  style  of  a  masterly,  impartial,  and 
intrepid  critic.     But  this  exact  impartiality  was  displeasing 
to  several  writers,  and  especially  to  Voltaire,     When  that 
poet  published,  without  his  name,  his  panegyric  on  Louia 
XV.  pere  Berthier  saw  it  in  no  other  light  than  as  the  at- 
tempt of  a  young  man  who  was  hunting  after  antitheses,^ 
though  not  destitute  of  ingenuity.  *|iSo  humiliating  a  cri- 
tique was  sensibly  felt  by  Vokaire^  ^wbo  made  no  hesita- 
tion to  declare  himself  the  author  of  the  work  so  severely 
handled.     His  mortification  was  increased  when  pere  Ber- 
thier having  given  an  account  of  a  publication,  wherein  the 
poet  was  characterised  under  the  title  of  "  the  worthy  rival 
of  Homer  and  Sophocles,"  the  journalist  put  coldly  in  a 
iiote,    "  We  are  not  acquainted  with  him.*'     But  what 
raised  the  anger  of  Voltaire  to  its  utmost  pitch,  was  a  very 
just  censure  of  several  reprehensible  passages  in  his  essay 
on  general  history.     The  irritated  poet  declared  openly  in 
1759   against  the  Jesuit  in   a  sort  of  diatribe,  which  he 
placed  after  his  ode  on  the  death  of  the  margravine  of  Ba- 
reitb*     The  Jesuit  repelled  his  shafts  with  a  liberal  and 

'  Biof.  Umv.— Diet  Hist. .    '  . 


L  . 


15J  V  B  E  K  T  H  I  E  R. 

manly  spirit  in  the  Journal  de  Trevoux..  Upon  this  the 
poet,  instead  of  a  serious  answer,  brought  out  in  1760  a 
piece  of  humour,  entitled  "An  account  of  the  sickness^ 
confession,  and  death  of  the  Jesuit  Berthier."  The  learned 
Jesuit  did  not  think  proper  to  make  any  reply  to  an  adver- 
sary who  substituted  ridicule  for  argument,  .and  continued 
the  Journal  de  Trevoux  till  the  dissolution  of  the  society 
in  France.  He  then  quitted  his  literary  occupations  for 
retirement.  At  the  close  of  1762  the  dauphin  appointed 
him  keeper  of  the  royal  library,  and  adjunct  in  th,e  educa** 
tion  of  Louis  XVL  and  of  motisieur.  But  eighteen  months 
afterwards,  when  certain  events  occasioned  the  dismission 
of  all  ex-jesuits  from  the  court,  he  settled  at  Ossenbourg, 
from  which  the  empress  queen  invited  him  to  Vienna ;  and 
he  was  also  offered  the  place  of  librarian  at  Milan,  but  he 
refused  all;  and  after  residing  here  for  ten  years,  obtained 
permission  to  go  to  Bourges,  where  he  had  a  brother  and 
a  nephew  in  the  church.  Here  he  died  of  a  fall,  Dec.  15, 
1782,  just  after  being  informed  tliat  the  French  clergy 
had  decreed  him  a  pension  of  a  thousand  livres.  The 
chapter  of  the  metropolitan  church  gave  him  distinguished 
honours  at  his  interment;  a  testimony  due  to  a  man  of 
such  eminent  piety,  extensive  erudition,  and  excellent 
judgment 

During  his  residence  at  Ossenbourg  and  at  Bourges,  he 
composed  his  ^^  Commentaire  sur  les  Psaum^s  et  sur  Isaie/* 
15  vols.  12mo.  He  published  also  his  **  Oeuvres  spiritu- 
elles,"  5  vols.  12mo,  the  best  edition  of  which  is  that  of 
Paris,  1811;  "  RefuUtion  du  Contrat  Social,"  1789,  12mo, 
An  *^  Examination  of  the  fourth  article  of  the  Declaration 
of  the  Clergy  pf  France  in  1682,"  lately  printed  at  Liege, 
1801,  and  Paris  1809,  has  been  very  unjustly  and  unfairly 
attributed  to  him.  ^ 

BERTHOLET  FLEMAEL.     See  FLEMAEL. 

BERTHOLON  (de  St.  Lazare),  a  French  philosopher, 
a  native  of  Lyons,  who  died  in  1799,  was  first  distinguished 
at  Montpelier,  as  professor  of  natural  philosophy,  an  of- 
fice established  by  the  states  of  Languedoc,  and  after- 
wards as  professor  of  history  at  Lyons.  He  was  a  man  of 
mild  manner,  communicative  and  accommodating,  and  of 
great  industry.  He  was  the  friend  of  Dr.  Franklin,  an4 
according  to  bis  plan,  was  employed  to  erect  a  gr^^^t  nun^-^ 

1  Biog.  UniverwUe,— Diet  Hbtt 


B  E  R  T  H  O  L  O  N.  153 

ber  of  conductors,  to  preserve  buildings  from  lightning, 
in  Paris  and  at  Lyotis.  Few  writers  on  subjects  of  natural 
philosophy,  &c.  have  been  so  successful^  scarce  a  year 
passing  without  two  or  three  prizes  being  adjudged  to  him 
by  the  academy,  for  the  best  dissertation  on  the  subject 
proposed.  The  month  of  August,  in  which  the  prizes  are 
usually  distributed,  he  used  familiarly  to  call  his  harvest. 
His  principal  works  are,  1.  "  Moyen  de  determiner  le 
moment  ou  le  vin  en  fermentation  a  acquis  toute  sa  force," 
1781,  4to,  a  prize  essay  at  Montpelier.  2.  "  De  I'elec-. 
tricit6  du  corps  humain  en  etat  de  sant6  et  de  maiadie," 
1781,  8vo,  a  prize  dissertation  at  Lyons,  3.  "  De  I'elec- 
tricit^  des  vegetaux,"  Paris,  1783,  8vo.  which  the  Mbnthly 
Reviewer  terms  **  a  new  conquest  added  to  the  empire 
which  electricity   is  assuming  over  the   natural  world.'* 

4.  *^  Preuves  de  l'efficacit6  des  paratonneres,"   1783,  4to. 

5.  "  Des  avantages  que  la  physique  et  lea  arts  peuvent 
retirer  des  aerostats,'*  1784,  8vo.  6.  "  Memoires  sur  les 
moyens  qui  ont  fait  prosperer  les  manufactures  de  Lyon," 
&c.  1782,  8vo.  7.  "  De  Pelectricit6  des  meteores,"  1787. 
8.  "Theorie  des  incendies,  &c."  1787,  4to.  9.  « De 
I'^au  la  plus  propre  a  la  vegetation,"  1786,  4to.  Ber- 
tholon  was  also  for  some  years  editor  of  the  Journal  of  na-- 
tural  history,  begun  in  1787,  and  of  the  "  Journal  dea 
sciences  utiles,"  begun  in  1791.* 

BERTHOUD  (Ferdinand),  an  eminent  French  marine 
clock-maker,  a  member  of  the  institute,  of  the  royal  so-* 
ciety  of  London,  and  of  the  legion  of  honour,  was  bora 
March  19,  1727,  at  Plancemont  in  Neufchatel.  His  fa- 
ther, who  was  an  architect  and  justiciary,  had  destined  him 
for  the  church  ;  but  the  youth  having  had  an  opportunity, 
when  only  sixteen  years  of  age,  to  examine  the  mechanisnl 
of  a  clock,  became  so  fond  of  that  study  as  to  attend  to 
nothing  else.  His  father  then  very  wisely  encouraged  an 
enthusiasm  so  promising,  and  after  having  employed  an 
able  workman  to  instruct  his  son  in  the  elements  of  clock- 
making,  consented  that  he  should  go  to^Paris  to  perfect 
his  knowledge  of  the  art.  He  accordingly  came  to  Paris  in 
1745,  and  there  constructed  his  first  specimens  of  marine 
clocks,  which  soon  were  universally  approved  and  adopted, 
Berthoud  and  Peter  Leroi  were  rival  makers  of  these  Ion- 

1  Qi^.  Uuirerselle.^-^Dict  Hist.  neiUier  of  which  have  given  us  hii  Christian 
name.  In  his  works  he  is  called  the  abbi  Bertholon  de  St  lAZtatt,  which  w* 
have  adopted.-— Monthly  Review,  vol.  LXIV.  and  LXX. 


154  B  E  R  T  H  O  U  D. 

gitudinal  clocks,  and  came  very  near  each  other,  although 
by  different  methods,  in  the  construction  of  them,;  but 
Berthoud's  superior  experience  made  the  preference  be 
given  to  his  workmanship.  They  had  both  deposited  the 
description  of  their  clocks  with  the  secretary  of  the  acade- 
my of  sciences,  sealed  up,  more  than  ten  years  before 
Harrison^s  clocks  were  proved.  Berthoud  went  twice  to 
London,  when  the  inquiries  were  making  concerning  Har- 
rison's invention,  but  returned  each  time  without  being 
able  to  satisfy  his  curiosity;  and  therefore,  his  biographer 
adds,  owes  nothing  to  the  English  artist.  Berthoud^s 
works,  which  are  numerous,  all  relate  to  the  principles  of 
his  art.  1.  "Essay  sur  THorlogerie,"  1763,  2  vols.  4to, 
reprinted  1786.  2.  "  Eclaircissements  sur  ^invention  des 
Houvelles  machines  propos6es  pour  la  determination  des 
longitudes  en  mer,  par  la  mesure  du  tempo,"  Paris,  1773, 
►4to.  3.  "  Trait6  des  horologes  marines,"  1773,  4to.  Of 
this  the  reader  will  find  a  very  ample  criticism  and  analysis 
in  vols.  L.  and  LL  of  the  Monthly  Review,  and  an  exa- 
mination of  Berthoud's  pretensions  to  superiority,  com- 
pared with  the  prior  attempts  of  Hooke  aiid  Harrison. 
4.  "  De  la  mesure  du  temps,"  a  supplement  to  the  preced- 
ing, 1787,  4to.  3.  "  Les  longitudes  par  la  mesure  du  temps," 
1775,  4 to.  6.  ^^  La  mesure  du  temps  appliquee  a  la  navi- 
gation,'' 1782,  4tp.  7.  ^^  Histoire  de  la  mesure  du  tempa 
paries  horologes,"  1802,  2  vols.  4to.  8. "  L'Art  de  conduire 
et  de  regler  les  pendules  et  les  montres."  This,  although 
mentioned  last,  was  his  first  publication  in  1760,  and  has 
often  been  reprinted.  He  wrote  also  some  articles  on  his 
particular  branch  in  the  French  Encyclopedia.  Berthoud, 
by  means  of  a  regular  and  temperate  system,  preserved 
his  faculties  to  the  last«  He  died  of  a  dropsy  in  the  chest, 
June  20,  1 807,  at  his  house  at  Groslay,  in  the  canton  of 
Montmorency.  His  nephew,  Louis,  his  scholar  and  the 
heir  of  his  talents,  carries  on  the  business  of  marine-clock 
making  with  equal  success,  and  is  said  to  have  brought  these 
machines  to  a  superibr  degree  of  exactness.  ^ 

BERTI  (Alexander  Pompey)^  a  learned  Italian,  was 
born  at  Lucca,  Dec.  23,  1686.  He  entered  when  sixteen 
into  the  congregation,  called  the  Mother  of  God  at  Naples, 
and  prosecuted  his  studies  with  success  and  perseverance. 
On  his  return  to  Lucca  he  acquired  great  reputation  as  a 
general  scholar  and  preacher^  and  in  1717,  taught  rheto- 

1  Bio;.  Unhrenelle.— Diet.  Hi8t.—MonUi]y  Reriew^  ubi  supra. 


B  E  R  T  L  155 

ric  at  Naples.     The  marquis  de  Vasto  having  appointed 
him  to  be  bis  librarian,  he  increased  the  collection  with  a 
number  of  curious  books,  of  which  he  had  an  accurate 
knowledge,  and  also  greatly  enlarged   the  library  of  bis 
convent.     He  introduced  among  his  brethren  a  taste  for 
polite  literature,  and  formed  a  colony  of  Arcadians.     In 
J  739,  he  settled  finally  at  Rome,  where  he  was  appointed 
successively  vice-rector,  assistant-general,  and  historian  of 
his  order.     He  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  members 
of  the  society  of  the  Arcadians  at  Home,  and  of  many 
other  societies.     He  died  at  Rome,  of  an  apoplexy,  March 
23,   1752.     Mazzuchelli  has  given  a  catalogue  of  twenty-* 
four  works  published  by  him,  and  of  twenty-one  that  re- 
main in  manuscript.     Among  these  we  may  notice,   1.  "La 
Caduta  de'  decemviri  della  Romana  repnbiica  per  la  fun- 
zione  della  serenissima  repiiblica  di  Lucca,"  Luccd,   1717* 
2.  "  Canzone  per  le  vittorie  contro  il  Turco  del  principe 
Eageiiio,"  ibid,  without  date,  4to.     3.  The  lives  of  8eve-» 
ral  of  the  Arcadians,  printed  in  the  prose  memoirs  of  th^t 
academy,  under  his  academic  name  of  Nicasio  Poriniano« 
4.  Translations  into  the  Italian  of  several  French  authors ; 
^nd  poetical   pieces  in  various  collections.     5.  We  owe 
to  him  chiefly  an  important  bibliographical  work,  ^*  Cata* 
logo   della  libreria   Capponi,   con   annotazioni   in   diversi 
luoghi,"  Rome,   1747,  4to.     It  is  the  more  necessary  ici 
notice   this   work,    because   the  editor   Giorgi,  who  has 
given  very  little  of  his  own,  does  not  once  mention  Berti's 
name.     Among  his  unpublished  works  is  one  of  the  bio- 
graphical kind,    ^^  Memorie  degli  scrittori   Lucchesi,''   a 
collection  of  the  lives  of  the  writers  of  Lucca.     It  being 
well  known,  as  early  as  1716,  that  this  was  ready  for  the 
press,    Mai^zuchelli,    who  had  waited  very  patiently  for 
what  was  likely  to  be  of  so  much  service  to  himself,  at 
lengtli,  in  1739,  took  the  liberty  to  inquire  of '  Berti  the 
cause  4>f  a  delay  so  unusual.     Berti  answered  that  the  diffi- 
culties he  had  met  with  had  obliged  him  to  re-write  his 
work,  and  dispose  it  in  a  new  order ;  tBat  the  names  were 
ranged  according  to  the  families  ;  the  most  ancient  families 
had  been  replaced  by  new  ones  in  the  various  offices  of 
dignity  in  that  little  republic,  and  the  new  heads  and  all 
their  relations  were  not  very  fond  of  being  reminded  that 
their,  ancestors  were  physicians,    men   of  learning,   and 
*^  people  of  that  sort."  * 

>  Bio|;.  Universelle.— MazzuclielU.«->Saxu  OBomaBticom 


156  B  E  R  T  I. 

/ 

* 

BERTI  (John  Lawrence),  a  famous  Augustine  monk, 
born  May  28,   1696,  at  Serravezza,  a  small  village  in  Tus- 
cany, was  called  to  Rome  by  his  superiors,  and  obtained 
the  title  of  assistant-general  of  Italy,  and  the  place  of  pre- 
fect of  the  papal  library.     His  great  proficiency  in  theolo- 
gical studies  procured  him  these  distinctions,  and  appeared 
to  advantage  in  his  grand  work,  '*  De  disciplinis  theologi- 
cis,''  printed  at  Rome  in  8  vols.  ^to.     He  here  adopts  the 
sentiments  of  St.  Augustine  in  tlieir  utmost  rigour,  after 
the  example  of  Bellelli  his  brother^monk.     The'  archbishop 
of  'Vienna  [Sal6on],  or  rather  the  Jesuits  who  managed 
him,  published  under  his  name  in  1744,  two  pieces  against 
the  two  Augustine  theologues,  inveighing  against  them  as 
being  too  severely   Augustine.      The    first    is    entitled, 
*^  Baianismus  redivivus  in  scriptis  pp.  Bellelli  et  Berti,"  in 
4to.     The  second  bore  this  title :  ^*  Jansenismus  redivivua 
in  scriptis  pp.  Bellelli  et  Berti,*'  in  4to.     At  the  same  time 
father  Berti  was  accused  to  pope  Benedict  XIV.  as  a  disci- 
ple of  Baius  and  of  Jansenius.     The  prudent  pontiff,  with- 
out returning  any  answer  to  the  accusers,  advised  Berti  to 
defend  himself;  which  he  accordingly  did  in  a  work  of 
two  vols.  4to,   1749.     In  this  apology,  rather  long,  though 
learned  and  lively,  he  laid  down  the  difference  there  is 
between  Jansenism  and  Augustinianism.     After  this  piece 
Berti  broi^ght  out  several  others,  the. principal  of  which  is 
an  ecclesiastical  history  in  Latin,  in  7  vols.  4to :  it  made 
however  but  little  way  out  of  Italy,  by  reason  of  the  dry- 
ness of  the  historian,  and  of  hi$  prejudices  in  favour  of 
exploded  tenets.     He  speaks  of  the  pope,  both  in  his  the- 
ology and  in  his  history,  as  the  absolute  monarch  of  king- 
doms and  empires^  and  that  all  other  princes  are  but  bis 
lieutenants.     Berti  wrote  also  dissertations,  dialogues,  pa^ 
negyrics,  academical  discourses,  and  some  Italian  poems, 
which  are  by  no  means  his  best  productions.     An  editioa 
in  folio  of  all  his  works  has  been  printed  at  Venice.     He 
died  at  the  age  of  70,  May  26,  1766,  at  Pisa,  whither  he 
had  been  called  by  Francis  I.  grand  duke  of  Tuscany.  ^ 

BERTIE   (Robert),  earl  of  Lindsey,    and  lord  high 
chamberlain  of  England  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  was  the 
eldest  son  of  Peregrine  'lord  Willoughby,  of  Eresby,  by    . 
Mary,  daughter  to  John  Vere  earl  of  Oxford,  and  grand- 
son of  Richard  Bertie,  esq.  by  Catherine,  duchess  of  Suf» 

1  Biog.  Univertelie.— Mazzuchelli^  Tol.  n.«— Fabroni  Vlts  Italorunij  yol.  lU 
p.  43.— Diet.  HiiU 


BERTIE.  157 

folk.  He  was  born  in  1582,  and  in  1601,  upon  the  death 
of  his  father^  succeeded  to  his  title  and  estate.  In  the  first 
year  of  the  reign  of  James  I.  he  made  his  claim  to  the 
earldom  of  Oxford,  and  to  the  titles  of  lord  Bulbech, 
Sandfbrd,  and  Badlesmere,  and  to  the  office  of  lord  high 
chamberlain  of  England,  as  son  and  heir  to  Mary,  the  sole 
heir  female  of  that  great  family;  and,  after  a  considerable 
dispute,  had  judgment  given  in  his  favour  for  the  office  of 
lord  high  chamberlain,  and  the  same  year  took  his  seat  in 
the  house  of  lords  above  all  the  barons^  On  the  22d  of 
November,  1636,  he  was  advanced*  to  the  dignity  of  earl 
of  Lindsey ;  and  four  years  after  made  knight  of  the  gar- 
ter ;  and  the  next  year  constable  of  England  for  the  trial 
of  the  lord  Rea  and  David  Ramsey,  in  fhe  court  military. 
Ill  1635  he  yvsLS  constituted  lord  high  admiral  of  England  ; 
and  a  fleet  of  forty  ships  of  war  was  sent  out  under  him. 
Jn  1639,  upon  the  Scots  taking  arms,  he  was  made  gover- 
nor of  Berv^ick.  The  year  following  he  was  appointed 
lord  high  constable  of  England  at  the  trial  of  the  earl  of 
Straffijrd.  In  1642,  he  was  constituted  general  of  the 
king's  forces ;  and  on  the  23d  of  October  the  same  year 
received  his  death's  wound  in  his  majesty's  service  at  the 
battle  of  Edgehill  in  the  county  of  Warwick. 

The  fortune,  which  he  inherited  from  his  ancestors,  wa» 
a  veiy  considerable  one  ;  and  though  he  did  not  manage  it 
with  such  care,  as  if  he  desired  much  to  improve  it,  yet 
he  left  it  in  a  very  fair  condition.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
honour,  and  spent  his  youth  and  the  vigour  of  his  age  in 
military  actions  and  commands  abroad.  And  though  he 
indulged  himself  in  great  liberties,  yet  he  still  preserved 
a  very  great  interest  in  his  country;  as  appears  by  the 
supplies,  which  he  an^  his  son  brought  to  the  king's  army, 
the  companies  of  his  own  regiment  of  foot  being  com- 
manded by  the  principal  knights  and  gentlemen  of  Lin- 
colnshire, who  engaged  themselves  in  the  service  princi- 
pally out  of  their  personal  affection  to  him.  He  was  of  a 
very  generous  nature,  and  punctual  in  what  he  undertook, 
and  in  exacting  what  was  due  to  him ;  which  made  him 
bear  the  restriction  so  heavily,  which  was  put  upon  him  by 
the  commission  granted  to  prince  Rupert,  who  was  gene* 
ral  of  the  horse,  in  which  commission  there  was  a  clause 
exempting  him  from  receiving  orders  from  any  but  the 
king  himself;  and  by  the  king's  preferring  the  prince's 
opinion  in  all  matters  relating  to  the  war  before  his.     Nor 


158  BERTIE. 

I  , 

V 

did  he  conceal  his  resentment ;  for  the  day  before  the  bat« 
tie,  he  said  to  some  friends,  with  whom  he  had  used  free- 
dom^  that  he  did  not  look  upon  himself  as  general ;  and 
therefore  he  was  resolved,  when  the  day  of  battle  should 
come,  that  he  would  be  at  the  head  of  his  regiment  as  a 
private  colonel,  where  he  would  die.  He  was  carried  out 
of  the  field  to  the  next  village ;  and  if  he  could  then  have 
procured  surgeons,  it  was  thought  bis  wound  would  not 
have  proved  mortal.  A&^soon  as  the  other  army  was  com« 
posed  by  the  coming  on  of  the  night,  the  earl  of  Essex 
about  midnight  sent  sir  William  Balfour,  and  some  other 
officers,  to  see  him,  and  designed  himself  to  visit  him. 
They  found  him  upon  a  little  straw  in  a  poor  house,  where 
they  had  laid  him  in  his  blood,  which  had  run  from  him  in 
great  abundance..  He  said,  he  was  sorry  to  see  so  many 
gentlemen,  some  whereof  were  his  old  friends,  engaged  in 
so  foul  a  rebellion  ;  wishing  them  to  tell  the  earl  of  Essex, 
that  he  ought  to  throw  himself  at  the  king's  feet  to  beg  his 
pardon;  which  if  he  did.  not  speedily  do,  his  memory 
would  be  odious  to  the  nation.  He  continued  his  discourse 
with  such  vehemence,  that  the  officers  by  degrees  with- 
drew themselves,  and  prevented  the  visit,  which  the  earl 
of  Essex  intended  him,  who  only  sent  him  the  best  sur- 
geons ;  but  in  the  very  opening  of  his  wounds  he  died, 
before  the  morning,  by  the  loss  of  blood.  He  had  very 
many  friends,  and  very  few  enemies,  and  died  generally 
lamented.  His  body  was  interred  at  Edenham  in  Lincoln- 
shire. 

He  married  Elizabeth,  only  child  of  Edward,  the  first 
lord  Mountagu  of  Boughton  in  Northamptonshire,  and  had 
issue  by  her  nine  sons  and  five  daughters,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded in  his  titles  and  estate  by  his  eldest,  Mountagu,  who 
at  the  battle  of  Edge-hill,  where  be  commanded  the  royal 
regiment  of  guards,  seeing  his  father  wounded  and  taken 
prison,  was  moved  with  such  filial  piety,  that  he  volun- 
tarily yielded  himself  to  a  commander  of  horse  of  the 
enemy,  in  order  to  attend  upon  him.  He  afterwards  ad- 
hered firmly  to  his  majesty  in  all  his  distresses,  and  upon^ 
the  restoration  of -king  Charles  II.  was  made  knight  of.  the 
garter.  * 

ABINGDON  (WiLLOUGHBY  BERTIE),  earl  of,  a  de- 
scendant of  the  preceding,  was  bom  in   1740,  and  suc- 

^  Birch's  Lives. — Biog.  Brit  » 


BERTIE.  IB9 

ceeded  his  father  William^  the  third  earl,  in  1760.  His 
lordship  was  educated  at  Geneva,  where  he  probably  im- 
bibed some  of  the  democratic  principles  of  the  philoso- 
phists  in  that  republic.  He  generally  opposed  the  mea* 
sures  of  administration  .with  declamatory  vehemence,  and 
his  frequent^speeches  in  the  house  of  peers  were  singularly 
eccentric,*  but  added  little  weight  or  dignity  to  the  cause 
he  supported.  The  editor,  however,  of  Mr.  Wilkes's 
speeches  (in  all  probability  Mr.  Wilkes  himself)  characi' 
terises  this  noble  earl  *^  as  one  of  the  most  steady  and  in- 
trepid assertors  of  liberty  in  this  age.  No  gentleman  was 
ever  more  formed  to  please  and  captivate  in  private  life, 
or  has  been  more  deservedly,  more  generally,  esteemed 
and  beloved.  He  possesses  true  honour  in  the  highest  de-> 
gree,  has  generous  sentiments  of  friendship,  and  to  supe-^ 
rior  manly  sense  joins  the  most  easy  wit,  with  a  gaiety  of 
temper  which  diffuses  universal  chearfulness  :  it  is  impos- 
sible not  to  be  charmed  with  the  happy  prodigality  of  na- 
ture in  his  favour ;  but  every  consideration  yields  with  him 
to  a  warm  attachment  to  the  laws  and  constitution  of  Eng* 
land.'*  Much  of  this  character  may  be  just,  yet  his  lord- 
ship was  less  respected  as  a  public  character  or  partizan  than 
^he  himself  thought  he  deserved.  He  had,  in  particular,  a 
very  high  opinion  of  his  speeches,  and  that  the  public 
might  not  lose  the  benefit  of  them,  be  sent  copies  to  the 
different  newspapers  with  a  handsome  fee,  which  ensured 
that  prominence  in  the  debate  which  nright  not  otherwise 
have  been  assigned  to  them.  This  custom  was  no  doubt 
gratifying  to  himself  and  his  friends,  but  it  proved  on  one 
occasion  peculiarly  unfortunate.  Having  made  a  violent 
attack  on  the  character  of  an  attorney  belonging  to  the 
court  of  king's  bench,  and  sent  the  speech  containing  it, 
as  usual,  to  the  papers,  he  was  prosecuted  and  sent  to 
prison  for  some  months,  as  the  publisher  of  a  libel. 

Ih  1777,  he  published  a  pamphlet  which  excited  much 
attention,  entitled,  "Thoughts  on  the  letter  of  Edmund 
Burke,  esq.  to  the  sheriffs  of  Bristol,  on  the  affairs  of 
America,"  Oxford,  8vo.  This  went  through  six  editions, 
from  that  time  to  1780.  An  anonymous  reply  was  pub- 
lished, much  admired  for  its  force  of  irony ;  and  major 
Cartwright  addressed  a  letter  to  the  earl,  discussing  a  po- 
sition relative  to  a  fundamental  right  of  the  constitution, 
1778  :  this  induced  his  lordship  to  add  a  dedication  to  his 
sixth  edition,  "  To  the  collective  body  of  the  people  of 


reo  B  E  R  T  1  E. 

England.'*  He  is  also  the  reputed  author  of  "  A  Lettef 
to  lady  Loughborough^  in  consequence  of  her  presentation 
of  the  colours  to  the  Bloomsbury  and  Inns  of  Court  A8so<» 
ciatiou ;  with  a  public  letter  to  the  university  of  Oxford," 
1798  ;  a  rhapsodical  epistle,  which  the  influence  of  his 
lordship^s  name  operating  on  curiosity,  carried  through 
eight  or  nine  editions.     His  lordship  died  in  1799.  ^ 

BERTIER  (Joseph  Stephen),  of  the  oratory,  was  borof 
at  Aix  in  Provence,  in  1710,  and  died  Nov.  15,  1783. 
He  is  known  by  two  worksr  which  at  the  time  made  some 
noise  among  the  naturalists ;  one  is  entitled,  ^^  Physique 
des  cometes,'*  1760,  r2nio;  the  other,  "Physique  des 
corps  animus,"  1755,  12mo.  The  author  had  cultivated 
the  sciences  with  success ;  and  in  person  had  a  striking  re* 
semblance  to  pere  Malebranche.  His  character  appears 
to  have  been  very  excellent.  Of  all  the  men  of  learning 
in  Paris,  he  was  the  most  obliging,  and  strangers  were  aU 
ways  desirous  of  a  recommendation  to  Bertier,  as  a  sure 
means  of  being  introduced  to  the  most  celebrated  charac* 
ters,  and  to  every  object  of  curiosity.  In  philosophy  he 
was  a  Cartesian  long  after  that  System  had  been  given  up. 
Louis  XV.  called  him,  on  this  account,  le  pere  aux  tour^ 
billons.  He  was  the  author  of  some  other  works  besides 
those  above  mentioned,  but  they  are  not  in  much  repute.  * 

BERTIN '  (Anthony),  a  mqdern  French  poet  of  the, 
Ovidian  cast,  was  born  in  the  isle  of.  Bourbon,  Oct.  10, 
1752,  and  died  at  St.  Domingo  June  1790.  He  was 
brought  to  France  for  education  at  the  age  of  nine,  and 
after  studying  for  some  time  in  the  college  of  Plessis,  en« 
tered  the  military  service,  and  became  a  captain  of  horse 
and  a  chevalier  of  l^t.  Louis.  In  his  twentieth  year  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  as  a  poet,  although  his  effusions  were 
circulated  principally  among  bis  friends;  but  in  1782, 
when  he  published  four  books  of  elegies  under  the  title  of 
**  Amours,"  a  very  honourable  rank  appears  to  have  been 
assigned  to  him  among  the  minor  poets  of  France.  He 
was  intimately  connected  widi  chevalier  de  Parny,  another 
poet  of  the  amatory  class,  and  who  was  termed  the  French 
TibuUus,  and  they  lived  together  in  the  utmost  amity^  al- 
though rivals  in  the  public  favour.  About  the  end  of  the 
year  1789,  Bertin  went  to  St.  Domingo  to  marry  a  young 

A  Gent  Mag.  1798,  1799.— Park's  Royal  and  Noble  Authors. 
*  Biof .  UBiyerselle.— Diet.  Hist 


B  E  R  T  I  N*  t€l 

t^reole,  with  whom  he  had  formed  an  acquaintarice  iii  Paris^ 
biit  on  the  day  of  marriage  he  was  seised  with  a  Tiolent 
fe^er,  of  which  he  died  in  a  few  daysi  His  works,  were 
collected  and  published  at  Paris  in  1785,  2  vols.  18mo. 
and  reprinted  in  1802  and  1806.  ^ 

BERTIN  (ExWKRius  Joseph),  an  eminent  Fif^nch  ana- 
tomist,  was  born  at  Tremblay  in  Britanny,  Sept.  21,  1712. 
At  the  age  of  three  he  was  left  an  orphan,  yet  learned 
Latin  almost  without  a  master,  aud  was  sent  afterwards  toi 
Rennes  to  complete  his  education.  He  then  went  to  Parisf 
and  studied  medicine  with  such  success,  that,  in  1737,  he 
took  his  doctor's  degree  at  Rheims,  and  in  1741  was  ad- 
mitted a  regent  member  of  the  faculty  of  Paris.  About  the 
end  of  that  year  he  accepted  the  place  of  physician  to  the 
prince  of  Moldavia^  but  after  two  years  returned  to  France, 
The  academy  of  sciences  which  had  in  his  absence  chosen 
him  a  corresponding  member,  now^  in  1744,  admitted  him 
to  the  honour  of  being  an  associate  without  the  intermedi- 
ate rank  of  adjunct  The  fatigues,  however,  which  he  had 
encountered  in  Moldavia,  and  his  assiduous  application  to 
anatomical  studies,  had  at  this  time  impaired  his .  healthy 
and,  joined  to  a  nervous  temperament,  threw  him  into  a 
state  of  mental  debility  which  interrupted  his  studies  for 
three  years.  He  was  afterwards  recommended  to  travel^ 
and  it  was  not  until  the  year  1750  that  he  recovered  his 
health  and  spirits,  and  was  enabled  to  resume  his  studies 
at  Gahard,  a  retired  spot  near  Reniies*  There  also  he  em- 
ployed some  part  of  his  time  in  the  education  of  his  children^ 
and  bis  reputation  brought  him  extensive  practice.  On 
Feb.  21,  1781,  he  was  seized  with  a  complaint  in  his 
breast,  which  carried  him  off  in  four  days.  Before  and 
after  his  long  illness,  he  had  furnished  several  valuable 
papers  to  the  memoirs  of  the  academy  of  sciences,  parti>^ 
cularly  three  on  the  circulation  in  the  foetus.  His  princi- 
pal publications  were,  l."Trait6  d'Osteologie,"  1754> 
4  vols.  12mo,  a  very  popular  work  at  that  time^  and  still 
deserving  of  perusal.     It  was  intended  as  the  first  part  of  a 

general  course  of  anatomy.    "2.  "  Lettre  au  D ^  sur  le 

nouveau  systeme  de  la  Voix,^'  Hague,  1745,  8vo.  This 
being  answered  by  Ferrein,  or  his  pupil  Moutagnat,  our 
author,  without  putting  his  name  to  it,  defended  his  door 
trine  in  "  Lettres  sur  le  nouveau  ^systeme  de  la  Voix,  c^t 
sur  les  arteres  lympbatiques,*'  1748;  -v^.  ^'  Consultation  sur 

>  Biag»  UniTertelle,— Diet;  HlH. 

Vol.  V.  M 


163  B  E  R  T  I  N: 

la  legitimit^  defli  nai«sances  tardives/*  1764andlt65y  $ro. 
His  chief  argument  here-  seems  to  be  the  sinfiple  position 
that  if  there  are  early  births^  there  may  also  be  laie  births^ 
4«-^f  Memoire  sur  les  consequences  relatives  a  la  prati^ 
que,  deduites  de  la  structure  des  os  parieiaux,*'  inserted  ia 
the  Journal  de  Medicine,  1756.  He  left  in  manuscript 
Memoirs  on  Moldavia,  which  his  son  Ren4  Joseph,  an 
eminent  physician  of  Paris,  intends  to  publish* ' 

BERTIN  (Nicholas),  painter,  and  disciple  of  Jouvenfet 
and  de  BouUogne  the  elder,  ?ms  born  at  Paris  in  1664. 
His  father  wa^  a  sculptor.  The  academy  of  painting  de-> 
creed  him  the  first  prize  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  admitted 
him  afterwards  of  their  number.  During  his  stay  at  Rome 
he  completed  his  studies.  At  his  return  to  France  he  was 
appointed  director  of  the  Roman  school ;  but  an  afiair  of 
gallantry,  which  rendered  it  unsafe  for  him  to  return  to 
Rome,  prevented  him  from  accepting  that  place.  Louis 
XIV.  and  the  electors  of  Mentz  and  of  Bavaria  employed 
him  successively  in  various  works.  The  last  was  desirous 
of  attaching  him  to  himself  by  handsome  pensions ;  but 
Bertin  would  never  consent  to  quit  his  country.  He  died 
at  Paris  in  1736.  His  manner  was  vigorous  and  graceful ; 
but  his  escellenoe  lay  chiefly  in  small  pictures.  At  Paris 
there  are  several  works  of  his  in  the  church  of  St.  Luke> 
the  abbey  of  St.  Germain  des  pres,  and  in  the  halls  of  the 
academy. ' 

BERTINI  (Anthony  Francis),  an  Italian  physician, 
and  a  man  of  learning  and  §ki}l,  yet  perhaps  less  known 
for  these  qualities,  than  for  his  literary  disputes,  was  born  at 
Castel  Fiorentino  Dec.  28,  1655.  After  studying  at 
Sienna  and  Pisa  a  complete  course,  not  only  of  medicine^ 
but  mathematics,  astronomy,  belles-lettres,  &c.  he  was, 
in  1678,  created  doctor  in  philosophy  and  medicine,  and 
then  settled  at  Florence,  where  after  very  successful  prac- 
tice for  many  years,  he  died  Dec. '10,  1726.  His  first 
publication  was  entitled  **  La  Medicina  difesa  contra-  la 
calunnie  degli  nonrini  volgari  e  dalle  opposiziotii  de*  dotti, 
divisa  in  due  dialoghi,*'  Lucca^  1699,  4to.  and  ibid.  170^. 
In  the  second  of  these  dialogues  be  pays  high  compliments 
to  three  physicians  belonging  to  the  court  of  Tuscany,  but 
Miits  Moneglia,  the  fourth,  which  brought  on  a  control. 
"weny  between  Bertini  akid  him  ;'  and  soniie  time  aft^warda 


1  Biog.  Univ. — Eloges  by  Condorc«t,  vol.  II.  p;  283, 
^  D'Argenville.— PiHdDgtoiu— Bior.  UniverscUe* 


B  E  R  T  I  N  t.  16tf 

he  was  InTObred  in  two  other  disputes  with  bis  brethren,  hy 
which  neither  party  gained  much  credit.  His  son  Joseph 
Maria  Xavier,  who  died  in  1756,  ivasalso  a  physician,  and 
of  far  more  <:elebrity  as  a  practitioner ;  but  he  published 
9Qly  a  discourse  pronounced  in  1744,  on  the  medical  use 
of  mercury  in  general,  which  at  that  time  excited  the  at« 
tention  of  the  learned  in  no  small  degree.  It  was  entitled 
*^  DelV  uso  esterno  e  interno  del  Mercurio,  discorso,  &c.*' 
4to. 

,  BERTIUS  (P£T£R)^  cosmographer  and  historiographer 
to  Louis  XIIL  of  France,  and  regius  professor  of  mathe« 
maties,  was  born  at  Bevereu  in  Flanders,  on  the  confines 
of  the  dioceses  of  Bruges  and  Ypres,  Nov.  14,  1565.  He 
was  brought  into  England  when  but  three  months  old,  by 
bis  parents,  who  dreaded  the  pensecution  of  the  protestants 
which  then  prevailed  in  the  Netherlands.  He  veceived  the 
rudiments  of  his  education  in  the  suburbs  of  London,  under 
Christian  Rychius^  and  his  learned  daughter-in-law,  Petro* 
nia  Lansberg.  He  afterwards  completed  his  education  at 
Leyden,  whither  his  father,  then  become  protestant  mini* 
ster  at  Rotterdam,  removed  him' in  his  twelfth  year.  In 
1582,  when  only  seventeen  years  of  age,  he  began  the 
employment  of  teaching,  which  he  carried  on  at  Dunkirk^ 
Ostend,  Middleburgh,  Goes,  and  Strasburgh ;  but  a  de« 
sire  for  increasing  his  own  stock  of  learning  induced  him 
to  travel  into  Germany  with  Lipsius,  and  the  same  object 
led  him  afterwards  into  Bohemia,  Silesia,  Poland^  Russia^ 
and  Prussia.  On  his  return  to  Leyden  he  was  appointed 
to  a  professor's  chair,  and  to  die  care  of  tbie  library,  of 
which,  after  arranging  it  properly,  he  published  a  cata- 
log^. In  1606,  he  was  appointed  regent  of  the  coUegOi 
but  afterwards,  havihg  taken  part  with  the  disciples  of  Ar« 
minius,  and  published  several  works  against  those  of  Go- 
marus,  he  was  dismissed  from  all  his  employments,  and 
deprived  of  every  means  of  subsistence,  with  a  numerous 
family.  In  March  1620,  he  presented  a  petition  to  the 
States  of  Holland  for  a  pension,  which  was  refused.  Two 
^  years  before,  Lodis  XIIL  had  honoured  him  with  the  title 
of  his  cosmographer,  and  now  constrained  by  poverty  and 
the  distress  of  his  family,  he  went  to  France  and  embraced 
the  popish  religion,  a  change  which  gave  great  uneasiness 
to  the  protestants.  Some  time  after  he  was  appointed 
professor  of  rhetoric  in  the  college  of  Boncourt,  then  histo- 
riographer to  the  king,  and  lastly  assistant  to  the  regiua 

M  2 


164  B  E  R  T  I  U  S. 

r 

professor  bf  mathematics.  He  died  Oct.  3,  1629.  A  rery 
fine  engraving  of  him  occurs  at  the  bacK  of  the  dedication 
to  Louis  XIII.  of  his  **  Theatrom  Geographice  veteris,** 
but  (the  collectors  will  be  glad  to  hear)  only  in  some  copies 
of  that  work,  which  are  supposed  to  have  been  presents 
from  the  author. 

Bertius  W9A  the  author  of  a  great  many  works,  which 
inay  be  divided  into  two  classes,  theological  and  geogra- 
phical ;  the  former,  which  were  the  cause  of  all  his  mis* 
fortunes,  are  now  forgotten,  but  the  latter  are  still  read 
or  consulted.  The  most  in  demand  is  his  **  Theatrum 
Geographic  vetemm,''  2  vols.  fol.  1618  and  1619,  yet  this 
collection,  of  which  Bertius  was  only  the  editor,  and  not 
a  very  careful  editor,  seems  to  have  enjoyed  more  repu- 
tation than  it  deserves.  The  first  volume  is  entirely  com* 
posed,  of  Ptolomey's  Geography,  in  Greek  and  Latin,  re- 
printed from  .  an  edition  published  about  fourteen  years 
before  by  Montanus,  and  conmoonly  called  Mercator*s  edi- 
tion, and  Bertius  hsis  only  added  some  various  readings 
from  a  manuscript  in  the  Palatine  library,  with  which  Syl- 
burgius  had  furnished  him ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  he  has- 
neglected  to  correct  a  great  many  errors  in  Montanus's 
edition.  The  second  volume  contains  Antoninus's  Itinerary, 
and  the  works  of  other  geographers,  without  a  single  note 
from  his  own  pen.  His  other  geographical  works  are,  1* 
**  Commentariorum  rerum  Germanicarum  libri  tres,*'  Am- 
sterdam, 1616,  4to,  and  1635,  12mo.  2.  '^  Notitia  cho- 
rographica  episcopatuum  Galliae/'  Paris,  1625,  fol.  3. 
•*  Breviarium  orbis  terrarum,'*  Leipsic,  1662,  12mo.  This 
is  added  at  the  end  of  Cluverius's  Introduction  to^univer- 
sal  Geography,  Amst.  1676,  4to.  4.  '^  Imperium  Caroli 
M.  et  vicinsB  regioues,  Paris,  fol.  a  map,  which  has  been 
since  added  to  Hondius^s  Atlas.  5.  **  Variie  orbis  universe 
et  ejus  partium  tabulse,  &c.''  oblong  4to.  6.  ''  De  agge- 
ribus  et  pontibus  hactenus  ad  mare  extructis  digestum 
novum,*'  Paris,  1629.  Bertius  was  also  editor  of  *^  lUus- 
U'ium  et  clarorum  virorum  epistolas  selectiores,''  Leyden, 
1617,  8vo,  and  wrote  prefaces  to  various  editions  of  books.  * 

SERTOLI  (John  Dominici:),  an  Italian  antiquary  of 
the  last  century,  was  born  of  a  noble  family,  at  Mereto  in 
the  Frioul,  March  13,  1676,  and  after  studying  atVeniee, 

1  Biog.  Udit. — Chaufepie  Diet.  Hist. — ^Moreri. — Meursii  Athens  Batave.— » 
Toi>peii  Bibl.  Belg.— -Baillet  Jugemens  des  Savan«. — ^Fieheri  Theatrum.^-SaxiA 
OiMina«.-<-JB«nBMiii*s  Syllofe  Epist.  vol.  1.  p.  67& 


B  E  R  T  O  L  I.  16S 

was  ordained  a  priest  in  170a  The  same  year  he  became 
canon* coadjutor  of  the  patriarchal  church  of  Aquileia,  and 
soon  after  titular.  He  had  already  acquired  a  decided  taste 
for  the  study  of  antiquities,  and  was  in  a  country  abound^ 
ing  with  objects  to  gratify  it,  most  of  which/  however,  had 
been  greatly  neglected,  and  even  destroyed  by  the  ignorant 
inhabitants,  who  converted  every  remains  of  antiquity  in 
stone  to  the  common  purposes  of  building.  To  prevent 
this  for  the  future,  Bertoli  formed  a  society  of  men  of 
learning  and  similar  taste,  who  began  with  purchasing 
every  valuable  relic  they  could  find,  and  placed  the  col- 
lection in  the  portico  of  the  canons'  house,  where  it  soon 
became  an  object  of  curiosity,  not  only  to  travelFers,  but 
to  the  Aquileians  themselves.  At  the  same  time  he  copied, 
or  caused  to  be  copied,  all  the  monuments  in  the  town,  and 
in  the  whole  province,  and  entered  into  an  extensive  cor- 
respondence with  many  eminent  characters,  particularly 
Fontanini,  to  whom  he  liberally  communicated  his  disco- 
veries, in  hopes  they  might  be  useful  to  that  learned  pre* 
late;  but  be  having  deceased  in  1736,  Bertoli  resolved  to 
take  upon  himself  what  he  had  expected  from  him,  and 
was  encouraged  in  this  design  by  Muratori  and  Apostolo 
Zeno.  Accordingly  he  began  to  publish  a  series  of  me- 
moirs and  dissertations  on  subjects  of  antiquity,  which  he 
wrote  at  his  native  place,  Mereto,  where  he  resided  for 
such  periods  as  his  official  duties  at  Aquileia  permitted. 
In  1747  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Columbarian  so- 
ciety of  Florence,  and  next  year  of  that  of  Cortona,  and 
died  a  few  years  afterwards,  but  the  date  is  not  ascertained 
in  either  of  our  authorities.  His  principal  publication  is 
entitled  '<  Le  Antichita  diAquileja  profane  e  sacre,"  Ve- 
uiae  1739,  foL  He  had  made  preparations  for  a  second 
and  third  volume,  but  did  not  live  to  complete  them.  Se- 
veral of  his  letters  and  dissertations  relative  to  this  work, 
and  to  various  subjects  of  antiquity,  are  printed  in  Calo- 
g^ra's  valuable  collection,  vols.  XXVI.  XXXIII.  XLIII. 
XLVIL  XLVIII.  &c.;  others  are  inserted  in  the  Memoirs  of 
r  the  Columbarian  Society  of  Florence,  and  in  similar  col- 
lections. ^ 

BERTON  (WilliamJ,  an  eminent  divine  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  and  doctor  in  that  faculty,  flourished  about 
the  year  1381,  in  the  reign  of  Richard  II.  and  was  some 

'  Bio|;.  Univ.— ^SaxtiOaomasticoQ. 


16«  B  E  R  T  O  N* 

time  chancellor  of  the  university  of  Oxford.  He  is'  chiefly 
remarkable  for  bis  opposition  to  the  doctrines  of  WicklifF: 
for,  by  virtue  of  bis  office,  as  governor  of  the  university^ 
be  appointed  twelve  censors,  six  of  the  order  of  mendi* 
cants,  and  six  seculars,  consisting  of  divines  and  lawyers, 
to  examine  WicklifF*s  opinions  ;  who  accordingly  declared 
bim  an  heretic.  He  wrote  likewise  several  pieces  upon  the 
subject  of  WickliflF's  pretended  heresy ;  particularly  **  De- 
terminations against  WicklifF;  a  treatise  concerning  his  just 
condemnation  ;^'  and  another  ^<  against  the  Articles  ex« 
tracted  from  his  writings.*'  Bale  and  Pits  give  him  very 
different  characters,  according  to  their  principles. ' 

BERTOUX  (William),  a  French  Jesuit,  was  bom  Nov. 
}4,  1723.  On  the  suppression  of  his  order  he  retired  to 
Senlis,  where  he  had  a  canonry  given  him,  and  where  be 
died,  but  when  is  not  mentioned.  He  wrote  the  following 
books  which  were  much  esteemed  in  France,  but  would 
not  suffer  his  name  to  appear  to  any  of  them  :  1.  ^^  Histoire 
poetique  tir^e  des  poetes  Frangais,  Paris,  1767,  12mo,  and 
a  fourth  edition,  1786.  2.  '^  Anecdotes  Fran^aises  depuis 
Tetablissement  de  la  monarchie  jusqu'au  regue  de  Louist 
XV."  ibid.  1767,  8vo.  3.  "  Anecdotes  Espagnoles  et  Por- 
tugaises,"  Pafis,  1773,  2  vols.  8 vo.* 

BERTRAM.     See  RATRAMNUS. 

BERTRAM  (Cornelius  Bonaventure),  minister,  and 
professor  of  Hebrew  at  Geneva,  at  Frankentbal,  and  at  Lau*** 
sanne,  was  bom  atThouars  in  Poitou,  in  1531,  of  a  re- 
putable family,  allied  to  the  house  of  la  Trimouille,  and 
escaped  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  by  flying  to  Cahora 
and  afterwards  to  Geneva.  He  died  at  Lausanne  in  1594* 
He  gave  to  the  world,  1 .  ^^  A  dissertation  on  the  Republic 
of  the  Hebrews,'^  Geneva,  1580;  again  at  Leyden  in  164^1^ 
8vo,  written  with  precision  and  method.  2.  ^^  A  revision 
of  the  French  Bible  of  Geneva,  according  to  the  Hebrevr 
text,''  Geneva,  1588.  He  corrected  that  version  (bji  Cal- 
vin and  Olivetan)  in  a  great  number  of  places;  but  iu 
others  he  has  too  closely  followed  the  authority  of  the  Rab* 
bins,  and  not  sufEciently  that  of  the  old  interpreters.  It 
is  the  Bible  still  in  use  among  the  Calvinists.  3..  A  new 
edition  of  the  ^'  Thesaurus  lingu^  sanctsB*'  of  Pagninus. 
4.  "  A  parallel  of  the  Hebrew  Tongue  with  the  Arabic.'* 

1  Bioff.  Brit— Ba1e.-»Pit8.-*Wood*s  Annals  of  Oxford. 
•  Bioi;.  Univ.— DieU  Hist, 


BERTRAM..  l€7 

S.  ^  Luciibrationes  Frankendalenses,*'  1685,  or  explana- 
tions on  difficult  passages  of  the  New  Testament,  so  called 
because  written  at  Frankentbal. ' 

BERTRAM  (Phiup-Ebnbst),  professor  of  law  at  HaUe^ 
was  born  at  Zerbst,  in  1726,  and  studied  at  Halle  and 
Jena.  In  1746  he  was  governor  of  the  pages  at  Weimar  ; 
in  1753,  private  secretary,  and  then  secretary  of  state, 
which  he  resigned  in  1761,  in  order  to  retire  to  Halle, 
where  he  became  professor  of  law,  and  died  Oct.  13, 1777. 
He  was  ^-man  of  high  reputation  for  learning,  especially 
in  history  and  feudal  law.^  His  principal  works,  which  aro 
all  in  German,  are,  1.  *^  An  Essay  on  the  History  of  Learn-* 
ing,*'  Gotha,  1764,  4to.  2.  <^  History  of  the  house  and 
principality  of  Anhalt,*'  continued  by  M.  J.  C.  Krause, 
part  I.  1780,  8vo.  3.  **  Ferreras'  History  of  Spain",  con- 
tinued down  to  his  own  time,  vols.  11,  12,  and  13,  1762«*-« 
1772,  4to.» 

BERTRAND  (Euas),  an  ingenious  Swiss  writer,  long 
known  by  his  labours  in  various  branches  of  philosophy 
and  literature,  and  especially  in  natural  history  and  poli* 
tical  and  rural  economy,  was  born  at  Orbe  in  Swisserland, 
in  1712.  In  1739  he  was  pastor  of  that  village,  and  in 
1744  preacher  at  Bern,  whence  he  was  called  by  the  late 
king  of  Poland,  ^  preside  at  a  boai:4  <>f  commerce,  agri- 
culture, and  useful^  arts,  the  operations  of  which  (and,  if 
we  are  not  mistaken,  its  very  existence)  were  suppressed 
by  the  subsequent  troubles  of  that  unhappy  country.  He 
was  also  a  member  of  the  academies  of  Stockholm,  Ber<* 
lin,  Florence  Lyons,  &c.  His  principal  works  are,  1.  ^  Ser* 
mons  prononc^s  k  Berne  a  Toccasion  de  la  decouverte 
d^une  Conspiration  centre  I'etat,"  1749,  8vo.  Two  of 
these  are  by  Bertrand,  the  third  by  J.  J.  Altmann.  2.  *^  Me« 
moires  sur  la  Structure  interieure  de  la  Terre,'*  1752,  8vo. 
3.  **  Essais  sur  les  usages  des  montagnes,  avec  un  lettre 
sur  la  Ni V  1754,  4to;  a  work  which  Denina  styles  ex^ 
cellent.  His  object  is  to  prove  that  divine  wisdom  ia 
strongly  manifested  in  the  creation  of  mountains ;  and  that 
they  are  not,  as  many  authors  have  asserted,  imperfections 
of  the  terrestrisil  globe,  much  less  the  effects  of  a  ruined 
world.  This  he  proves  with  considerable  skill,  but  in  some 
respects  is  rather  fanciful.     4.  ^^Memoires  pour  servir  i 

i-Biog.  Univ.— Diet.  Hitt— Moreri.-*Baillet  Jagemcns  daa  ffiiTnnii — fistii 
OBomaH.  >  Biog«  UnivefieUe. 


1«8  B  E  R  T  R  A  N  D. 

■  • 

B^.instruire  des  tremblements  de  terre  de  la  Suisse,  princU 
p^Iement  pour  Fannie  1755,  avec  quatre  Sermons  pro- 
nonc6es  a  cette  occasion/'  1756,  8vo.  5.  The  same  "  Me- 
moires,'*  published  separately,  1757,  8vo,  and  much  en- 
larged, a  work  embracing  all  that  was  known  before  on  the 
subject,  and  enriched  with  many  candid  and  able  illustra* 
tions  by  the  author.  6.  "  Le  Philanthrope,"  1758,  2  vols. 
i2mo,  7.  ^^  Recherches  sur  les  langoes  anciennes  et  mo« 
dernes  de  la  Suistse,  et  priucipalement  du  pays  de  Vaud,'* 
1758,  8vo.  8.  A  translation  of  Derham's  Astro- theology  ; 
and  of  BuUinger's  Confession  of  Faith,  both  in  1760.  9. 
**  Museum,"  1763.  10.  **  Dictionnaire  Universel  des  Fos- 
siles  propres,  etdes  Fossils  accidentels,"  1763,  2  vols.  8vo. 
11.^^  Recueil  de  divers  trait^s  sur  Thistoire  naturelle  de  la 
Terre  etdes  Fossiles,"  1766,  4to.  12.  "  Morale  de  TEvan- 
gile,''  1775,  7  vols.  8vo.  13.  "LeThevenon,  ou  les  Jour- 
nees  de  laMontagtie,  1777,  12mo,  1780,  2  vols.  8vo.  14. 
^^  Essai  philosophique  et  moral  sur  le  Plaisir,''  1778, 12mOy 
an  excellent  work,  which,  from  the  account  given  of  it  in 
the  Monthly  Review,  seems  highly  disserving  of  a  transla- 
tion. 15.  ^^  Le  solitaire  du  Mont-Jure,  recreations  d'un 
philosophe,''  1782,  12mo.  The  time  of  this  writer's  death 
is  not  ascertained,  but  he  was  considerably  advanced  in 
years  at  the  period  of  this  last  publication.  ^ 

BEBTRAND  (John  Baptist),  a  French  physician, 
and  member  of  the  academy  of  Marseilles,  was  born  at 
Martigue  in  Provence,  July  12,  1670.  He  was  at  first 
intended  for  the  church,  and  went  through  a  theological 
course,  but  his  inclination  leading  him  to  medicine,  he 
studied  the  same  at  Montpellier.  After  having  practised 
for  some  time  in  his  native  country,  he  removed  with  his 
family  to  Marseilles.  His  three  colleagues  at  the  Hotel- 
Dieu  of  that  city  having  withdrawn  their  services  during 
the  contagious  fever  of  1709,  he  remained  alone  to  pre- 
scribe for  the  poor  suiferers,  and  escaped  without  an  attack, 
which  probably  encouraged  him  to  show  the  same. zeal 
during  the •  plague  in  1720.  On  this  occasion,  however, 
he  saw  almost  his  whole  family  fall  a  sacrifice  to  their  hu-« 
mane  care  of  the  sick,  and  was  himself  attacked  with  the 
disorder,  but  at  length  recovered,  and  the  government,  in 
fionsideration  of  his  services,  granted  him  a  pension,  which 
)ie  enjoyed  until  his  death,  Sept.  10,  1752.     He  was  a 

* 

1  Bioff.  Univ.— Month.  EeY.  vol  LVIXI. 


B  E  RT  R  A  N  D.  16^ 

man  of  amiable  temper,  disinterested^  kind  and  ingenuous. 
HeVrote,  1.  ^<  Relation  historique  de  la  Peste  de  Mar* 
.  seille,"  Lyons,  1721,  12mo.  2.  "  Lettres  sur  le  mouve- 
ment  des  Muscles  et  sur  les  Esprits  Animaux."  3.  *^  Re- 
flexions sur  le  systeme  de  la  Trituration,^'  published  in  the 
Journal  de  Trevoux.  4.  "  Dissertation  sur  Tair  maritime,'* 
Marseilles^  4to,  &g.  * 

BERTRANDI  (John  Ambrose  Maria),  an  eminent  ana-- 
tomist  and  surgeon,  was  born  at  Turin,  Oct.  18,  1723.  His 
father,  who  was  oiriy  a  poor  phiebotomist  and  barber,  con- 
trived to  give  him  an  education,  and  intended  to  bring  him 
up  to  the  church,  which  was  thought  most  likely  to  afford 
him  a  maintenance,  but  one  of  their  friends  Sebastian 
Klingher,  then  professor  of  surgery,  induced  him  to  study 
that  branch,  in  which  he  soon  evinced  *great  talents^  He 
was  only  twenty-two  when  he  read  a  dissertation  on  Oph- 
thalmography, on  which  Haller  and  Portal  bestowed  the 
highest  praise.  The  celebrated  Bianchi  connected  him^ 
self  with  him,  but  after  a  few  years  their  friendship  was 
interrupted  by  the  literary  disputes  which  took  place  be- 
tween Bianchi  and  Morgagni,  and  Bertrandi  preferring 
what  he  thought  truth  to  a  friendship  which  was  of  great 
importance  to  him,  was  obliged  to  leave  Bianchi.  In  1747 
be  was  elected  an  associate  of  the  college  of  surgery,  and 
the  same  year  published  his  "  Dissertation  on  the  Liver,'* 
which,  Haller  says,  contains  many  useful  observations.  In 
1752,  the  king,  Charles  Emmanuel,  offered  to  bear  his  ex- 
penses to  Paris  and  London.  He  accordingly  went  to  Paris, 
where  he  increased  his  knowledge  and  practice  of  the  art 
of  surgery,  and  in  consequence  of  his  two  papers  read  in 
the  academy,  **  De  Hydrocele,''  and  **  De  hepatis  absces- 
sibus  qui  vulneribus  capitis  superveniunt,"  -  was  admitted 
as  a  foreign  member.  In  1754  he  went  to  London,  and 
lodged  for  a  year  with  sir  William  Bromfield,  our  late 
eminent  surgeon,  during  which  time»  as  at  Paris,  he  stu- 
died hospital  practice,  and  cultivated  the  acquaintance  of 
men  of  science.  On  his  return  to  Turin,  the  king  founded 
for  his  sake  a  new  professorship  of  practical  surgery  and 
anatomy,  and  at  Bertrandi's  request,  built  a  handsome 
amphitheatre  in  the  hospital  of  St.  John.  He  was  after- 
'  wards  appointed  first  surgeon  to  the  king,  and  professor 
«f  chemistry  in  the  university.     Surgery  now,  which  had 

1.  Biog.  UniTerselle. 


%    • 


170  B  E  R  T  R  A  N  D  I. 

been  practised  iu  Piedmont  only  by  regimental  surgeoM, 
,  began  to  wear  a  new  face  >  and  a  literary  society,  whicb 
was  afterwards  completely  established  under  the  title  of 
the  *^  Boyal  Academy  of  Sciences/'  b^an  now  to  hold  its 
meetings,  and  Bertrandi  contributed  some  valuable  papers 
to  the  first  volume  of  their  Memoirs.  His  principal  pnbli*^ 
cation  was  his  '^  Trattato  delle  operazioni  di  Chirurgia,** 
Nice,  1763,  2  vols.  8vo,  whidi  was  afterwards  translated 
into  French  and  German.  He  was  employed  on  a  treatise 
on  anatomy  and  a  comparative  history  of  ancient  and  mo-* 
dern  surgery,  when  death  deprived  science  and  humanity 
of  his  valuable  labours,  in  1765,  in  his  forty-second  year. 
His  works  already  published,  and  bis  posthumous  works^ 
edited  by  Pencbienati  and  Brugnone  form  13  vols,  8vo»' 

BERULLE  (P£t£R),  aD  eminent  cardinal,  was  borii  iii 
1575,  at  the  chateau  de  Serilli,near  Troyesin  Champagne^ 
of  a  noble  family,  and  havitig  embraced  the  ecclesiastical 
state,  distinguished  himself  early  in  life  by  his  piety  and 
bis  learning.  He  got  great  reputation  in  the  famous  con* 
ference  of  Footainbleau,  where  du  Perron  contended  with 
du  Plessis-Momay,  called  the  pope  of  the  Hugueuots.  He 
was  sent  by  Henry  IV..  to  whom  he  was  chaplain,  into 
Spain,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  some  Carmelites  to 
Paris,  and  it  was  by  his  means  that  this  order  flourished  so 
much  in  France.  Some  time  afterwards  he  founded^he 
Congregation  of  the  Oratory  of  France,  of  which  he  was  the 
first  general.  This  new  institution  was  approved  by  a  bull 
of  pope  Paul  V.  in  1613,  and  has  always  been  reckoned  by 
the  catholics  a  great  service  done  to  the  church.  In  that 
gregation,  according  to  the  expression '  of  Bossuet,  the 
members  obey  without  dependance,  and  govern  withoot 
ccunmanding ;  their  whole  time  is  divided  between  study 
and  prayer.  Their  piety  is  liberal  and  enlightened,  their 
knowledge  useful,  and  almost  always  modest.  Urban  VIIL 
rewarded  the  merit  of  Berulle  by  a  cardinal's  hat.  Henry 
IV.  and  Louis  XHI.  vainly  strove  to  make  him  accept  of 
considerable  bishoprics ;  on  Louis's  telling  him  that  he 
should  employ  the  solicitation  of  a  more  powerful  advocate 
than  himself  (meaning  the  pope)  to  prevail  upon  him  to 
accept  the  bishopric  of  Leon,  he  said,  ^^  that  if  his  majes- 
ty continued  to  press  him,  he  should  be  obliged  to  quit 
las  kingdom.*'    This  cardinal  came  over  with  Henrietta 

1  Biog.  Uoifenelle. 


B  E  R  U  L  L  E.  171 

Maria,  queen  of  Charles  I.  to  England^  as  her  confessor, 
to  the  court  of  which  he  endeared  himself  by  the  sanctity 
of  his  morals,  and  the  extreme  propriety  of  his  behaviour^ 
although  his  errand  had  afterwards  its  weight  in  enoreasing 
the  fatal  unpopularity  of  the  royal  family.  He  died  sud« 
denly,  Oct.  2,  1629,  aged  fifty-five,  while  he  was  cele-* 
brating  the  sacrament,  and  had  just  repeated  the  words, 
^'  banc  igitur  pbiationem,'*  which  gave  occasion  to  the  foU 
lowing  distich : 

'*  Coepta  sub  extremis  nequeo  diun  sacra  sacerdos 
Perficere^  at  saltern  victima  perfWiam." 

**'  In  vain  the  reverend  pontiff  tries 

To  terminate  the  sacrifice  $ 

Himself  within  the  holy  walls  "* 

The  heaven-devoted  victim  falls/* 


I 


St.  Francis  de  Sales,  Caesar  de  Bus,  cardinal  Bentivog* 
lio,  &c.  were  among  his  friends  and  the  admirers  of  his 
virtues.  An  edition  of  his  controversial  and  spiritual  works, 
published  in  1644,  2  vols,  folio,  was  reprinted  in  1647, 
1  vol.  folio,  by  father  Bourgoing,  third  general  of  the  ora- 
tory. His  life  was  written  in  French,  by  the  abb6  Cerisi, 
Paris,*  1646,  4tQ,  and  in  Latin  by  Doni  d'Attichi,  after- 
wards bishop  of  Autun,  1649,  8vo,  and  lastly  by  Carrac- 
cioli,  Paris,   1764,   12mo.* 

BERYLLUS,  bishop  of  Bostra  in  Arabia,  flourished 
about  the  year  230.  After  he  had  for  a  long  time  govern* 
ed  his  see  with  great  prudence  and  fidelity,  be  fell  into 
several  new  and  uncommon  opinions,  asserting"  that  Christ 
before  his  incarnation  had  no  proper  subsistence,  nor  any 
divinity,  but  that  of  the  Father  residing  in  him.  Th© 
bishops  being  assembled  in  order  to  dissuade  him  from  this 
error,  and  having  had  several  conferences  with  him  upon 
that  subject,  Origen  was  desired  to  engage  in  the  dispute, 
'  which  be  did  with  such  success,  that  Befyllus  immediately 
retracted  his  opinion.  He  wrote  several  treatises  and, 
epistles,  particularly  to  Origen,  in  which  he  returned  him 
thanks  for  the  pains  which  he  had  taken  in  recovering  hioi 
from  his  errors.  Eusebius  tells  us,  that  he  left  behind  hin^ 
several  monuments  of  an  elegant  genius ;  by  which  Henry 
Valesius  in  his  notes  upon  that  passage  supposes  that  he 
means  the  hymns  and  poems  which  Beryllus  probably  wrote. 

»  Biog.  Universellc-^Dupin. — Moreri. — Perault's  "  Hommta  Illustrcf."— 
Crcn.  Dict.-HSeward's  AAf  cdotes. 


172  B  E  R  V  L  L  U  S. 

There  was  extant  in  St  Jerom's  time,  the  dialogue  between 
Origen  and  our  bishop,  in  which  the  latter  was  convinced 
of  bis  erroneous  notions ;  and  this  seems  to  be  the  same 
work  which  is  mentioned  by  Eusebius  in  his  Ecclesiastical 
History,  where  he  tells  us,  that  there  were  extant  at  that 
time  the  acts  of  Beryllus  and  the  synod  assembled  upon 
his  account,  in  which  were  inserted  the  questions  of  Origen 
iirged  against  him,  and  the  whole  series  of  the  conference 
between  them.  * 

BESIEflS  (Michael),  a  canon  of  St.  Septilchre*s  at 
Caen,  and  a  member  of  the  academies  of  Caen  and  Cher->v 
burgh,  was  bom  at  St.  Malo,  and  died  at  Caen,  Dec.  17S2. 
He  published,  1.  *^  Chronologic  historique  des  baillis  et 
des  gouverneurs  de  Caen,'*  1769,  12mo.  2.  *^  Histoire 
sommaire  de  la  ville  de  Bayeux,"  1773,  12mo.  3.  **  Me- 
moires  historiques  sur  Porigine  et  le  fondateur  de  la  colie* 
giale  du  St.  Sepulcre  a  Caen,  avec  le  catalogue  de  sies 
doyens.''  4.  Various  dissertations  in  the  literary  Journals^ 
in  D'Expilly*s  "  Dictionnaire  de  France,"  and  in  that  of 
the  nobility,  &c.  * 

BESLER  (Basil),  a  botanist,  who  was  born  in  1561,  at 
Nuremberg,  where  he  carried  on  the  business  of  an  apothe- 
cary, and  died  there  in  1629,  is  entitled  to  notice  chiefly 
for  having  published  the  most  beautiful  botanical  work  that 
had  then  appeared,  the  celebrated  "  Hortus  Eystettensis,'* 
Nuremberg,  1613,  folio.  It  contains,  a  description,  and 
places  of  the  greater  part  of  the  plants  which  the  bishop  of 
AichstaBdt,  John  Conrad  d^  Gemmingen,  a  liberal  patroa 
of  the  arts,  had  cultivated  in  his  gardens  and  orchards  on 
mount  St.  Willibald,  on  the  top  of  which  is  his  episcopal 
seat.  This  work,  executed  with  uncommon  magnificence, 
at  the  expence  of  the  bishop,  made  a  new  sera  in  the  his- 
tory both  of  botany  and  engraving.  It  is  illustrated  by  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five  plates  of  the  atlas  folio  sis^e,  deacrip* 
tive  of  one  tbousahd  and  eighty-six  plants,  the  first,  after 
the  "  Pbytobasanos"  of  Columna,  that  were  engraved  on 
copper,  all  botanical  engr£^vings  being  formerly  on  wood. 
They  are  in  general  well  designed,  but  do  not  point  out 
the  parts  of  fructification,  and  are  classed  only  according 
to  the  seasons.  Basil  Be3ler  had  the  care  of  this  work,  aqd 
although  he  was  deficient  in  literature,  and  was  not  evei\ 

»  Gen.  Diet.— Cave. — Lardner's  Works. — ^Dapin.— Moreri, 

•  Biog,  Universelle.  •.  . 


B  E  S  L  E  R.  17S 

icquainted  with  Latin,  yet  his  zeal  and  love  of  the  science 
enabled  him  to  perform  his  task  with  considerable  skill. 
Jerome  Besler,  his  brother,  a  man  of  more  learning,  sup* 
plied  the  synonymy  of  the  plants,  and  part  of  the  descrip- 
tions, and  Louis  Jungermann,  professor  at  Giessen,  was 
tbe  author  of  the  text.  A  second  edition  appeared  at  Nu« 
rembergin  1640,  at  the  expence  of  Marquard  IL  bishop 
of  Aichstaedt,  in  large  folio,  but  is  inferior  to  the  first. 
Basil  Besler  also  collected  a  museum  of  many  of  the  curio- 
sities of  the  three  kingdoms  of  nature,  which  he  had  en- 
graven at  his  own  expence,  and  published  under  the  title 
of  '^  Fasciculus  rariorum  et  aspectu  di^niorum,  varii  gene- 
ris quse  collegit  et  suis  impensis  seri  ad  vivum  incidi  cura- 
vit  Basilius  Besler,^*  Nuremberg,  1616 — 1622.  In  ho- 
nour of  Besler,  Klumier  named  a  genus  of  plants  Besleria.  \ 

BESLER  (Michael  Robert),  a  physician  at  Nurem- 
berg, the  son  of  Jerome  and  nephew  of  Basil,  who  was 
born  in  1601,  and  died  in  1661,  wrote,  1.  <^  Gazophyla- 
cium  rerum  naturalium,^'  Nuremberg,  1642,  with  tbirty- 
fiiur  plates;  Leipsic,  17S3,  foL  with  thirty-five  plates, 
forming  a  continuation  of  his  uncle  Besler^s  work.  In  1716, 
J.  Henry  Lochner  repaired  the  plates,  and  with  some  ad- 
ditions to  the  text,  published  them  under  the  title  of  '*  Ra- 
riora  mussel  Besleriani,"  Nuremberg,  1716,  fol.  2.  **  Ad- 
mirandsB  fabricse  humanse  mulierispartium,  &c.  delineatio,^' 
Nuremberg,  1640,  folio,  the  figures  as  large  as  life^  and 
on  copper-plate.  3.  '^Observatio  anatomico*medica,  &c.** 
an  account  of  a  monstrous  birth,  Nuremberg,  1642,  4to. 
4.  ^'  Mantissa  ad  viretum  stirpium  Eystettense-Besle- 
rianum,^'  ibid.  1646  and  1648,  fol.  forming  a  supplement 
to  the  "  Hortus  Eystettensis."  * 

BESLY  (John),  king's  advocate  at  Fontenaye-Ie-Comte, 
and  an  able  French  antiquary,  was  born  at  Coulonges-Ies- 
Royaux  in  Poitou,  in  1572,  and  died  in  1644.  In  1614, 
he  distinguished  himself  in  the  assembly  of  the  states  by 
opposing  the  receiving  of  the  council  of  Trent,  but  he  was 
better  known  by  his  assiduous  attention  to  the  antiquities 
of  France ;  and  his  works  published  after  his  death  by  his 
son  and  Peter  I>upuis  his  friend,  justly  entitle  him  to  be 
considered  as  an  accurate  and  judicious  historian.  These 
are,  1.  ^'  Histoire  des  comtes  de  Poitou  et  dues  de  Gui- 

S  Biog.  UniTerselle.— >Sa»i  Onoraasticoo. 

•  iM<L— fialUr'i  Bibl.  BoUn.-^Fr«htri  TbMtrum. 


n*  ^  B  E  S  L  Y. 

cnne,"  Paris,  i647,  foL  This  was  the  result  of  forty  jrears 
research,  and  the  extraordinary  light  ht  has  been  able  to 
^hrow  upon  eircumstances  before  in  comparative  obscurity^ 
may  form  a  sufficient  apology  for  some  few  mistakes. 
2.  "  Des  eveques  de  Poitiers,  avec  lespreuves,"  1647,  4to. 
This  is  a  collection  of  useful  documents,  but  without  any 
arrangement,  and  evidently  left  unfinished  by  the  author. 
He  wrote  also  some  pieces  of  less  note,  such  as  a  ^*  Com* 
mentaire  sur  Ronsard,^'  something  of  which  kind  wafi  at« 
tempted  by  many  of  his  contemporaries.^ 

BESOIGNE  (Jerome),  a  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne,  wa^ 
born  at  Paris  in  16S6,  of  an  old  family  of  booksellers,  and 
after  prosecuting  his  studies  with  great  success,  became 
professor  of  philosophy  in  the  college  of  Plessis,  and  as-* 
sistant  to  the  principal.  His  particular  talent  for  the  reli- 
gious  instruction  of  his  pupils  occasioned  his  being  fre- 
quently invited  to  other  colleges  of  the  capital  for  his  ad-^ 
vice  and  assistance ;  but  his  opposition  to  the  famouis  bull 
Unigenitus,  gave  so  much  offence  to  the  higher  powers 
that  he  was  expelled  the  college  of  Plessis^  deprived  of  the 
privileges  of  his  doctorate,  and  at  last  banished  the  king- 
dom. This  sentence,  however,  being  taken  off  after  a 
year,  he  returned  to  his  friends,'  and  employed  himself  in 
writing  the  following  works,  1.  **  Concorde  des  livres  de 
la  Sagesse,  on  Morale  du  St  Esprit,''  1737,  1746,  12mo. 
2.  '^Concorde  des  Epitres  canoniques,  ou  Morale  des 
Ap6tres,'*  1747,  12mo.  3.  "  Principes  de  la  perfection 
Chretienne  et  religieuse,''  1748,  12mo,  often  reprinted. 
4:  "  Histoire  de  Tabbaye  de  Port-royal,"  1756,  8  vols. 
12mo.  5.  ^^  Reflexions  theologiques  sur  le  premier  voL 
des  lettres  de  rabb6  de  Villefroi  a  ses  eleves,  &c.'*  1759, 
respecting  a  controversy  with  Villefroi  and  his  disciples 
on  the  conduct  of  God  towards  his  church.  6.  ^  Priiicipes 
de  la  Penitence  et  de  la  Justice,'*  1762,  12mo.  Besoigne 
has  th^  character  of  a  pious  man  and  an  able  divinei,  but  it 
is  objected  that  some  of  his  works  of  the  practical  kind  are 
rather  deficient  in  that  unction,  as  the  French  term  it,  which 
gives  success  and  popularity  to  works  of  that  description. 
Besoigne  died  of  a  nervous  disorder,  the  nature  of  which 
his  physicians  could  not  discover,  Jan.  25,  1763.* 

BESOLD,  or  BE80LDUS  (Christopher),  an  eminent 
lawyer,  and  law-professor  at  Ingolstadt^  was  bom  atTubin- 

1  Bio|f.  UniT. — ^Aforeri. — Niceron,  vol.  XLI« 
*  Btog.  Unir.-^Dict.  Hist. 


B  E  S  O  L  D.  175 

fen  in  1577,  and  was  professor  of  law  in  1635,  when  he 
lurned  Ronian  catholic,  and  left  his  place  to  become  coun- 
sellor at  the  court  of  Austria,  wl/ence  he  went  to  Ingolstadt, 
and  died  there  Sept  15,  1638.  At  this  juncture  the  pope 
was  about  to  have  offered  him  a  professor's  chair  at  Bo- 
logna, with  a  pension  of  four  thousand  ducats.  He  was 
the  author  of  a  great  many  works  on  subjects  of  law  and 
history,  all  which  shew  that  he  had  accumulated  a  greater 
stock  of  learning  than  he  had  time  or  judgment  to  me- 
thodize. 1.  "  Synopsis  rerum  ab  orbe  condito  gestarum, 
usque  ad  Ferdinandi  imperium,''  Franeker,  1698,  8vp. 
2.  ^  Synopsis  doctrinse  politicoe.''  3.  **  Historia  imperii 
Constantinopolitani  et  Turcici.^'  4.  "  Series  et  succincta 
narratio  rerum  a  regibus  Hierosolymarum,  Neapoleos  et 
SicilisB  gestarum."  5.  "  Dissertationes  philologicae,"  1642, 
4to.  One  of  these,  on  the  history  of  printing,  may  be 
teen  in  Wolf's  **  Monumenta  typographica.**  6.  "  Pro- 
dromus  vindiciarum  ecclesiast.  Wirtenbergicarnm,'*  1636, 
4to.  7.  "  Documenta  rediviva  monasteriorum  Wirtemb," 
Tubing.  1636,  4to.  These  two  works,  although  surrepti- 
tiously printed  at  Vienna  in  1723  and  1726,  fol.  are  un- 
commonly rare,  as  they  were  suppressed  along  with  the 
following  articles.  8.  "  Virginum  sacrarum  monumenta^ 
jtc.**  9.  ^'  Documenta  concementia  ecclesiam  collegia- 
tarn  Stuttgardiensem.'^  10.  **  Documenta  ecclesiae  Back- 
henang,'^  These  last  five,  which  the  Germans  enumerate 
among  their  rarest  bibliographical  curiosities,  are  all  in  4to, 
and  printed  at  Tubingen,  1636.  Saxius  mentions  a  work 
emitted  in  the  above  list,  and  probably  Besold's  first  pro- 
duction, *' Discussiones  qaasstionum  aliquot  de  usuris  e% 
annuis  reditibus,'' Tubing.  1598,  4t0.  *  i 

BESPLAS  (Joseph  Mary  Anne  Gros  de),  doctor  of 
the  Sorbonne,  chaplain  to  monsieur,  and  abbot  of  TEpau, 
was  born  at  Castelnaudari  in  Languedoc,  Oct.  13,  1734, 
dnd  died  at  Paris,  Aug.  26,  1783.  He  at  first  connected 
JiiiDself  with  the  community  of  St.  Sulpice,  and  discharged 
with  not  less  fortitude  than  charity,  the  painful  office  of 
accompanying  and  exhorting  the  criminals  sentenced  to 
die«  Afterwards,  devptit)g  his  talents  to  the  pulpit,  he 
preached  with  applause  at  Versailles  and  at  Paris,  though 
Hhe  rapidity  of  his  utterance  diminished  somewhat  of  the 
effect  of  his  discourses.     His  sermon  on  the  last  supper 

1  Blof.  UDiTir.---Sakii  OnonMit.— Koreri.— Nle«roD»  roLXSiCiy. 


176  B  E  S  P  L  A  S. 

presented  a  piece  of  eloquence  so  aflecting  on  the  sad  con« 
dition  of  the  prisoners  in  the  several  gaols,  that  the  imme- 
diate regulation  of  them,  aft  to  accommodations  and  healthy 
with  the  establishment  of  the  H6tel  de  Force,  were  among, 
the  happy  effects  of  it.  The  abbe  de  Besplas  was  service- 
able to  humanity,  not  only  by  his  discourses,  but  by  his 
works.  We  have  by  him  a  treatise,  "  Of  the  causes  of 
public  happiness,"  1769  and  1778,  2  vols.  12mo,  replete 
with  excellent  suggestions,  political  and  moral,  enriched 
with  great  and  noble  ideas,  to  which  nothing  is  wanting 
but  a  more  methodical  arrangement  and  a  style  less 
pompous.  The  same  censure  might  be  passed  upon 
his  ^^  Essay  on  the  eloquence  of  the  pulpit,"  a  production 
of  his  youth,  of  which  the  second  edition  of  1778  was  care- 
fully retouched.  The  abb6  de  Besplas  was  beneficent  as 
much  from  inclination, as  from  principle;  he  had  the  art  of 
uniting  virlaoity  with  gentleness,  of  pleasing  without, afford-: 
ing  room  for  scandal,  of  being  instructive  without  pedantry^ 
and  tolerant  without  indifference ;  in  his  whole  figure  and 
deportment  was  seen  that  serenity,  that  gentle  gaiety,  which 
ever  accompanies  a  contented  mind.V 

BESSARION  (John),  one  of  the  revivers  of  literature 
in  the  fifteenth  century,  was  born,  not  at  Constantinople, 
as  some  writers  assert,  but  at  Trebisond,  in  1389,  a  date 
which  is  ascertained  by  his  epitaph  written  by  himself,  but 
as  all  the  copies  of  this  epitaph  do  not  agree,  Bandini, 
one  of  his  biographers,  gives  1395,' as  the  time  of  his  birth* 
He  entered  into  the  order  of  St.  Basil,  and  passed  twenty- 
one  years  in  a  monastery  of  Peloponnesus,  employed  in 
the  study  of  divinity  and  polite  literature.  The  philosopher, 
Gemistus  Pletho  was  one  of  his  masters.  In  1438,  when, 
the  emperor  John  Paleologus  formed  the  design  of  going 
to  the  council  of  Ferrara,  to  re-unite  the  Greek  with  the 
Latin  church,  he  drew  Bessarion  from  his  retirement, 
made  him  bishop  of  Nice,  and  engaged  him  to  accompany 
him  into  Italy  with  Pletho,  Marcus  Eugenius,  archbishop 
of  Ephesus,  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  and  several 
other  Greeks  eminent  for  talents  or  rank.  In  the  sittings 
of  this  council,  the  archbishop  of  Ephesus  distinguished 
himself  by  his  powers  of  reasoning,  and  Bessarion  by  the 
,  charms  of  his  eloquence,  but  unfortunately  from  being 
rivals  in  talents,  they  soon  became  enemies.    Eugeniua 

1  Diet  Hist,— Biof .  Umvenelle.— Moath.  Rer.  toL  XU 


B  E  S  S  A  R  I  O  N.  171 

WAS  not  favourable  to  the  scheme  of  uniting  the  Gfeek  m4 
Latin  churches ;  and  Bessarion,  after  having  been  of  a  con* 
trary  opinion,  declared  for  the  Latins,  which  was  the  sido* 
the  emperor  took.  The  union  was  accordingly  announcedy 
and  in  December  1439,  pope  Eugenius  IV.  to  reward  Hbm 
zeal  of  Bessarion,  created  him  a  cardinal  priest 

Being  now,  in  consequence  of  his  new  dignity,  fixed  ia 
Italy,  a  step  which  was  at  the  same  time  rendered  necessary 
by  the  commotions  in  Greece,  where  he  was  very  unpopu* 
lar,  and  the  union  universally  rejected,  Bessarion  returned 
to  the  studious  and  simple  life  he  had  led  in  his  convent  io 
the  Peloponnesus*  His  house  became  the  resort  of  the 
learned,  and  when  he  appeared  abroad,  his  train  was  com* 
posed  of  such  men  as  Argyropulus,  Philelphus,  Valla^ 
Theodore  Gaza,  George  of  Trebisonde,  and  Cadderino* 
He  obtained  the  confidence  and  friendship  of  .several 
popes.  Nicholas  V.  appointed  him  archbishop  of  Siponto^ 
and  cardinal-bishop;  and  Pius  II.  in  1463,  conferred  upon 
him  the  title  of  Patriarch  of  Constantinople.  On  the  death 
of  Nicholas  V.  the  college  of  cardinals  would  have  elected 
him  his  successor,  but  this  purpose  was  defeated  by  the 
intrigues  of  cardinal  Alain.  Some  years  after,  Bessarion 
was  likely  to  have  succeeded  Paul  IL  but  to  accomplish 
this,  it  was  necessary  to  secure  the  vote  of  the  cardinal 
Orsini  by  an  act  of  injustice,  which  he  refused.  Orsini^ 
however,  tendered  bis  vote  on  the  same  terms  to  the  car* 
dinal  de  Rovere,  who  had  none  of  Bessarion's  scruples,  and 
was  elected.  Paul  Jovius  tells  a  foolish  story  of  Bessa- 
rion's  having  lost  this  election,  by  the  blundering  reply  of 
his  servant;  and  Gibbon,  credulous  enough  when  the 
object  of  belief  is  worth  nothing,  has  repeated  it  after  him, 
nor  knowing  that  our  countryman  Hody  had  amply  re* 
futed  it. 

Bessarion  was  employed  on  four  embassies  of  a  delicate 
and  difficult  kind.  Three  of  them  he  conducted  with  sue* 
ces9,  but  the  fourth  was  less  fortunate.  Being  sent  into 
France  by  Sixtus  IV.  to  reconcile  Louis  XL  with  the  duke 
of  Burgundy,  and  obtain  assistance  against  the  Turks,  he 
not  only  failed  in  these  undertakings,  hut  it  is  said  that  the 
king,  in  full  court,  offered  him  the  grossest  personal  in* 
dignities.  Bessarion  on  this  set  out  on  his  way  to  Rome, 
and  died  at  Ravenna,  Nov.  19,  1472,  of  chagrin,  accord* 
ing  to  soipe  authors,  but  more  probably  from  age  and 
jinfirmity,  being  now  eighty- three  years  old,,  or  at  least^ 

Voi.  V.  N 


V 


Hi  B  E  S  S  A  R  I  O  N. 

according  to  Bandinrs  calculation,  seventy-seven.  His  body 
was  brought  to  Rome,  and  the  pope  attended  the  funeral, 
an*  honour  never  bestowed  before  on  any  cardinal.  He 
was  celebrated  in  Latin  by  Platina,  and  in  Greek  by  Mi- 
chael Apostolius.  Of  Platina's  eloge  there  have  beert 
many  editions,  but  that  of  Apostolius  was  not.  published 
until  1793,  by  M.  Fulleborn.  Bessarion  bequeathed  his 
library  to  the  senate  of  Venice.  It  was  particularly  rich  in 
.manuscripts,  which  he  collected  at  a  great  expence  from 
all  parts  of  Greece.  Tomasini  drew  up  a  catalogue  of  the 
whole. 

•  Bessarion's  writings  are  numerous.  Almost  all  those  on 
theological  subjects  remain  in  manuscript,  except  some 
that  are  inserted  in  the  acts  of  the  council  of  Florence,  in 
vol.  Xin.  of  Labbe's  collection,  and  in  vol.  IX.  of  Har- 
douin*s.  Complete  catalogues  of  bis  philosophical  treatises, 
discourses,  and  letters,  may  be  consulted  in  Fabricius's  Bibl. 
Grace,  and  in  Hody.  His  most  celebrated  works  were  his 
Latin  translations  of  Xenophon's  Memorabilia,  and  Aris- 
totle's Metaphysics,  and  his  treatise  "  Contra  ealumnia- 
torem  Platonis."  That  calumniator  was  George  of  Trebi- 
^ond,  and  Bessarion  composed  the  work  during  the  heat 
of  the  violent  contest  supported  about  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  between  the  followers  of  Plato  and  those 
of  Aristotle,  of  which  Boivin  wrote  the  history  in  the  se- 
cond volume  of  the  Academy  of  Belles  Lettres.  Gemistiis. 
Pletho,  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Plato,  wrote  a  small  tract 
in  which  he  attacked  the  Peripatetic  philosophy  with  viru- 
lent invective.  Three  learned  Greeks  of  the  age,  Genna- 
dius,  George  of  Trebisond,  and  Theodore  Gaza,  had  taken 
up  their  pens  in  vindication  of  Aristotle.  Bessarion  en- 
deavoured to  reconcile  the  parties  by  shewing  that  Plato 
and  Aristotle  were  not  so  far  removed  from  each  other  ki 
opinion  as  was  usually  thought ;  and  having  a  gteat  respect 
for  these  two  sages,  he  rebuked,  in  strong  terms,  the  in- 
considerate zeal  of  young  Apostolius,  who,  without  under* 
standing  the  question,  had  written  a  violent  and  unreason- 
able declamation  against  Aristotle.  George,  however,  far 
from  following  the  example  of  this  moderation,  published^ 
in  Latin,  under  the  title  of  "  Comparatio  Platonis  et  Aris- 
totelis,^*  a  long  dissertation,  in  which  he  endeavoured  to 
demonstrate  the  vast  superiority  of  Aristotle,  and  inveighed, 
with  great  violenee,  against  Plato  and  his  followers.  -  Bes- 
sarion then  wrote  the  treatiise  above-mentioned  aga^inst  this 


B  K  S  S  A  R  I  O  N.  179 

calumniator  of  Plato,  in  which  he  endeavours  to  prov^  that 
.the  doctrine  of  Piato  is  conformable  to  that  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  that  bis  morals  were  as  pure  and  irreproachable 
as  his  doctrine.  Having  thus  defended  Plato^  he  attacks 
.George  of  Trebisond,  proving  that  he  had  mistaken  the 
sense  of  a  great  many  passages,  and  that  he  had  no  right 
to  give  his  opinion  of  a  philosopher  whose  works  he  did  not 
understand.  Of  this  book  there  have  been  three  editions^ 
all  of  which  are  scarce ;  the  first  was  printed  at  Rome  in 
1469,  and  the  others  at  Venice  by  Aldus,  1503  and  1516,  ^ 
BESSEL  (Godfrey  be),  a  learned  abb6  of  the  convent 
of  Benedictines  of  Gottwich,  in  Austria,  was  born  Sept. 
5,  1672,  at  Buchheim  in  the  electorate  of  Mentz.  Lothairc^ 
Francis,  archbishop  of  Mentz,  of  the  family  of  the  counts 
of  Schoenborn,  employed  him  in  divers  embassies  at  Rome^ 
Vienna,  and  Wolfenbuttel,  and  admitted  him  of  his  privy 
council.  In  1714  he  was  chosen  abb^  of  Gottwich,  and  in 
1720,  the  emperor  Charles  VI.  sent  him  to  Kempten  to 
accommodate  some  differences  which  had  arisen  there. 
His  convent  having  been  destroyed  by  fire  in  1718,  he 
succeeded  in  saving  the  library,  and  afterwa^rds  having  re- 
built the  convent  with  great  magnificence,  he  enriched  the 
library  with  a  great  many  manuscripts  and  rare  books^ 
being  an  ardent  lover  of  literature  and  learned  men,  and 
himself  very  learned  in  history  and  diplomacy.  The  ^*  Chrd- 
liicon  Gottwicense,  pars  prima  et  secunda,''  Tegerns^e, 

1732,  fol.  has  been  often  attributed  to  him,  but  there  is 
reason  to  thiiik  that  Francis  Joseph  de  Hahn,  afterwards 
bbhop  of  Bamberg,  was  the  real  author.  Bessel  speaks  of 
him  in  the  preface  as  his  coadjutor.  It  contains  a  great 
number  of  diplomas  granted  by  the  emperors  from  Conrad 
I.  to  Frederick  II.  whose  seals  and  arms  are  very  accurately 
epgraved,  and  throws  so  much  light  on  the  public  law  of* 
Germany,  that  many  writers  have  not  scrupled  to  equal  it 
to  father  MabiUon's  work  ^^  De  re  diplomatica.'^  Besse} 
also  published  St.  Augustine's  letters  to  Optatus,  **  De 
poenis  parvulorum  qui  sine  baptismate  decedunt,''  Vienna, 

1733.  He  died  Jan.  20,  1749.* 

BESTON,  or  BESODUNUS  (John),  a  learned  English 
divine  of  the  fifteenth  century,  was  prior  of  the  monastery 
of  Carmelite  friars  at  Lynn  in  Norfolk,  and  distinguished, 

^  Biog.  UiiiT.-^Moreri.-«*DQpra.— But  above  all,  Hodius  dt  Orscii  Ulttttri* 
^■f  ,-^axii  OnoniastifiOB.  *  Biog.  Unin 

K  2 


ISO  B  E  s  T  o  n: 

for  the  works  which  he  published,  and  the  great  character 
which  he  raised  by  bis  merit.     It  seems  probable  from 
Leland^s  account  of  him,  that  he  studied  first  at  Cambridge^ 
aud  afterwards  at  Paris,  as  he  had  the  honour  of  receinng 
the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity  in  both  those  uDiversities. 
The  same  author  telis  us,  that  he  was  extremdly  well 
lulled  ia  natural  philosophy,  and  a  considerable  divine ; 
and  Bal^  adds,  that  he  was  a  very  fluent  and  elegant 
preacher  in  hia  own  language,  and  an  acute  disputant  ii» 
the  schools.     Pits  lihewise  observes,  that  he  had  a  very 
happy  genius,  and  a  solid  judgment,  and  was  eminent  for 
his  piety  and  knowledge  both  in  divine, and  human  learn- 
ing ;  that  he  was  highly  applauded  for  his  subtilty  in  dis* 
putation,  and  his  eloquence  in  the  pulpit ;  and  that  Alan 
de  Lynn  aiErmed  of  him,  that  he  used  >n  his  sermons  to 
open  and  explain  the  four-fold  sense  of  the  Scriptures  with 
the  utmost  perspicuity.   Thomas  Waldensis,  in  his  Epistles 
quoted  by  Bale  and  Pits,  telis  us,  that  he  was  aent  iii  the 
year  1424  to  the  council  held  at  Sienna  in  Itsdy,  under 
Pope  Martin  V.  where  he  distinguished  himself  to  great 
advantage.     He  died  at  Lynn  in  the  year  1428  under  the 
reign  of  king  Henry  VL     His  works  are,  1.  **  Compen- 
dium Theologian  Moralis.^*     2.  '^  Ordinariie  Qusntiones.*^ 
3.  *'  Super  Universalibus  Holcothi.^'  4.  ^^Sermones  in  Evan- 
gelia.*'     5.  ^^  Sennones  in  Epistolas.'*    6.  ^  Lecture  sacrae 
Scriptur»\"    7. "  Rudimenta  Logices/'    8. "  De  Virtutibo$ 
et  Vitiis  oppositis.'^  9.  <*  Epistolarum  ad  diversos  Libri  duo/" 
BETHAM  (Edward,  B.  D.)  an  English  divine,  received 
his  education  at  Eton,  of  which  seminary  he  was  a  distin- 
guished ornament ;  was  elected  from  thence  to  King's  col- 
lege, Cambridge,  in  1728,  of  which  he  became  a  fellow 
in  1731;  was  some  time  bursar,  and  by  the  provost  and 
feHows,  when  senior  fellow,  was  presented  to  the  living  of 
Crreenford  in  Middlesex.     He  was  also  one  of  the  Wbite- 
hall  preachers.    In  1771  the  provost  and  fellows  of  Etoft 
elected  him  to  a  vacant  fellowship  in  that  society.     So  un- 
exceptionable  was  his  life,  that  he  may  truly  be  said  to 
have  made  no  enemy  in  the  progress  of  it. .  His  fortune 
was  not  large,  yet  his  liberality  kep|;  more  than  equal  pace 
with  it,  and  pointed  out  objects  to  which  it  was  impoiisibl^ 
for  his  nature  to  resist  lending  his  assistance.     In  his  life- 
time he  gave  2000/.  for  the  better  maintaining  the  botani- 

^  GtB.  Dkt  from  JLelaiid.  Bale  and  PiU.— Tanner. 


B  E  T  H  A  M.  181 

cil  garden  «t  Cambridge,  thereby .  eocouragiog  a  aludy 
wbich  did  peculiar  honour  to  his  taste,  and  material^  be« 
nefited  mankind.  So  humane  was  his  disposition,  that  in 
17S0  be  founded  and  endowed  a  charity  school  in  his  own 
parish ;  and  this  most  nobly  in  his  life-time,  when  ayarice 
might  have  forbid  it,  or  the  fear  of  want  might  have  ex* 
cepted  against  it.  Having  previously  built  a  schooKhouse, 
he  gave,  by  a  deed  in  chancery,  the  sum  of  1600/.  bank- 
stod^  of  which  he  appropriated  30/.  a-year  to  a  master 
and  mistress  to  instruct  thirty  boys  and  girls  i  thirty  shil- 
lings for  coals  for  the  school ;  and  th^  remainder  of  the  in- 
terest, except  10/.  to  clotlie  such  aged  men  and  women  as 
should  frequently  attend  the  sacrament,  is  appropriated  to 
clothe  the  children,  buy  books,  and  keep  the  school  in 
repair.  As  in  his  life  he  indicated  the  most  extensive  libe- 
rality, so  at  his  death  be  exhibited  a  lasting  record  of  his 
gratitude.  Impressed  with  the  highest  sense  of  the  muni- 
ficence of  the  royal  founder  of  Eton,  within  whose  walls 
he  had  imbibed  the  first  seeds  of  education,  he  by  his  will 
directed  a  statue  of  marble,  in  honour  of  Henry  VI.  to  be 
erected  at  the  expence  of  700£  And,  in  order  infallibly 
to  carry  bis  purpose  into  execution,  he  contracted  a  few 
months  before  his  death  with  Mr.  Bacon.  This  statue  was 
accordingly  executed  by  that  45xcellent  artist,  and  is  in 
the  chapel,  with  the  inscription  *^  Posuit  Edvardus  Be- 
tham,  collegii  hujusce  socius.'*  The  founder  holds  a  mo- 
del of  Eton  college  in  his  hand.  Mr.  Betham  also  gave  a 
bast  of  the  king  to  the  college  library,  and  placed  some  • 
ancient  painted  glass  in  the  chancel  windows  of  his  church 
at  Greenford.     He  died  in  1783.  ^ 

BETHUNE.     See  SULLY. 

BETTERTON  (Thomas),  a  celebrated  English  actor, 
was  bom  in  Tothill-street,  We^minster,  1635;  and,  after 
having  left  school,  is  said  to  have  been  put  apprentice  to 
a  bookseller.  The  particulars,  however,  relating  to  the 
early  part  of  his  life,  are  not  ascertained.  It  is  generally 
thought  that  he  made  his  first  appearance  on  the  stage  in 
1656,  at  the  opera-bouse  in  Cbarter-house-yard,  under 
the  direction  of  sir  William  Davenant,  and  continued  to 
perform  here  till  the  restoration,  when  king  Charles  granted 
patents  to  two  companies,  the  one  called  the  king^s  com- 
pany, and  the  other  the  duke^s.  The  former  acted  at  the 
theatre  royal  in  Drury-lane,  and  the  latter  at  the  theatre 

*  Qest.  Mag.  17<|d.— tyiQiit't  SsviroiiSiF-'Hsnrood'f  Mwmd  EtoncBfci. 


182  B  E  T  T  E  R  T  O  N. 

in  Lincoln's-Inn-fields.  Betterton  went  over  to  Paris,  at  the 
command  of  king  Charles  II.  to  take  a  view  of  the  French 
scenery,  and  at  bis  return  made  such  improvements  as 
added  greatly  to  the  lustre  of  the  English  stage.  For  several 
years  both  companies  acted  with  the  highest  applause,  and 
the  taste  for  dramatic  entertainments  was  never  stronger 
than  whilst  these  two  companies  played  *,  The  two  com* 
panies  were  however  at  length  united ;  though  the  time  of 
this  union  is  not  precisely  known,  Gildon  placing  it  in 
1682,  and  Gibber  in  1684.  But  however  this  may  be,  it 
was  in  this  united  company  that  Mr.  Betterton  first  shone 
forth  with  the  greatest  degree  of  lustre ;  for,  having  sur- 
vived the  famous  actors  upon  whose  model  he  had  formed 
himself,  be  was  now  at  liberty  to  display  his  genius  in  its 
full  extent.  His  merit  as  an  actor  cannot  now  be  very  ac-» 
curately  displayed,  and  much  of  the  following  passage 
from  Cibber*s  Apology,  seems  to  be  mere  stage-cant  and 
declamation.  Cibber  says,  "  Betterton  was  an  actor, 
as  Shakspeare  was  an  author,  both  without  competitors,, 
formed  for  the  mutual  assistance  and  illustration  of  each 
other's  genius !  Hjw  Shakspeare  wrote,  all  men  who 
hav^e  a  taste  for  nature  may  read  and  know ;  but  with  what 
higher  rapture  would  he  still  be  read,  could  they  conceive 
how  Betterton  played  him !  Then  might  they  know  the 
one  was  born  alone  to  speak  what  the  other  only  knew  to 
write !  Pity  it  is  that  the  momentary  beauties,  flowing 
from  an  harmonious  elocution,  cannot,  lilife  those  of  poe- 
try, be  their  own  record!— ^ that  the  animated  graces  of 
the  player  can  live  no  longer  than  the  instant  breath  and 
jnotipn  that  present  them,  or  at  best  can  but  faintly  glim- 
mer through  the  memory  or  imperfect  attestation  of  a  few 
surviving  spectators!  Could  how  Betterton  spoke  be  as 
easily  known  as  what  he  spoke,  then  might  you  see  the 
muse  of  Sl^akspeare  in  her  triumph,  with  all  her  beauties 
in  her  best  array,  rising  into  real  life,  and  charming  her 

*  Mr.  Cibber  says,  that  plays  hay-  the  capital  plays  therefor^  of  Shak« 

ing  been  so   long   prohibited,  people  speare,  Fletcher,  and  Jonson,  were  di- 

cuoe  ^them  with  greater  eagefqess,  vided  beiwixt  them,  by  the  approba* 

like  folks  after  a  long  fast  to  a  great  tionof  the  court,  and^ their  own  choice; 

feast;    and  that  women    being   noir  so  that  when    Hart  was  famous   for 

brought  upon  the  stage  was  a  great  Othello,  Betterton  had  no  less  a  repu- 

advantage;  for  on  all  former  stages,  t^tion  for  Hamlet.     By  this  ipeans  ^he 

female  cba|racters  were  performied  by  town  was  supplied  with  greater  variety 

boys,  or  young  men  of  the  most  effe<  of  plays  than  could  possibly  have  been 

minate  aspect     He  ^ake^  pot  ice  also  ^hewn,  had  both  pompanies  been  em- 

of  a  rule  which  wa^  established,  that  ployed  at  the  same  time  upon  ihe  same 

no  play  which  was  acted  at  one  bouse  play.     Gibber's  Apology  for  b^  life^ 

fboaI4  be  attempted  at  t^t  other.    All  p.  j\,  '15,  ^c. 


B  E  T  T  E  R  T  O  N.  l«S- 

beholders.     But  alas!  since  all  this  is  so  far  out  of  the* 
reach  of  description,  how  shall   I  shew  you  Betterton? 
Should  I  tlierefore  tell  you  that  all  the  Othellos,  Hamlets^ 
Hotspurs,  Macbeths,  and  Brutases,  you  have  seen  since' 
bis  time,  have  fallen  short  of  bioi,  this  still  would  give  you 
uo  idea  of  his  particular  excellence.     Let  us  see  then  what 
a  particular  comparison  may  do,  whether  that  may  yet 
draw  him  nearer  to  you  ?     You  have  seen  a  Hamlet  per- 
haps, who,  on  the  first  appearance  of  his  father^s  spirit,  t 
has  thrown  himself  into  all  the  straining  vociferation  requi«; 
site  to  express  rs^e  and  fury ;  and  the  house  has  thundered^ 
with   applause,  though  the  misguided  actor  was  all  the 
while  (as  Shakspeare  terms  it)  tearing  a  passion  into  rags* 
I  am  the  more  ^bold  to  offer  you  this  particular  instance^^ 
because  the  late  Mr.  Addison,  while  I  sat  by  him  to  seer 
this  scene  acted,  made  the  same  observation  ;  asking  me,, 
with  some  surprise,  if  I  thought  Hamlet  should  he  in  »o^ 
violent  a  passion  with  the  ghost,  which,  though  it  mightf 
have   astonished,  had  not  provoked  him  ?     For  you  may 
observe,  that  in  thi$  beautiful  speech,  the  passion  never; 
rises  beyond  an  almost  breathless  astonishment,  or  an  im« 
patience,  limited  by  a  filial  reverence,  to  inquire  into  the. 
suspected  wrongs  that  may  have  raised  him  from  his  peaceful* 
tomb ;  and  a  desire  to  know  what  a  spirit  so  seemingly 
distrest  might  wish  or  enjoin  a  sorrowful  son  to  ekecute 
towards  bis  future  quiet  in  the  grave.     This  was  the  hght 
into  which  Betterton  threw  this  scene ;  which  he  opened  with 
a  pause  of  mute  aniazement !     Then  rising  slowly  to  a 
solemn,  trembling  voice,  he  made  the  ghost  equally  ter- 
rible to  the  spectator  as  to  himself.     And  in  the  descrip- 
tive  part    of   the    natural   emotions    which    the   ghastly 
vision  gave  him,  ,the  boldness  of  his  expostulation  was  still 
governed  by  d/e?ency ;  manly,  but  not  braving ;  his  vpice 
never  rising  into  that  seeming  outrage,  pr  wild  defiance,^ 
of  what  he  naturally  revered.     But,  :alas !  to  preserve  this 
medium  between   mouthing,  ^nd   meaning   too  little,   to 
keep  the  attention  tnore  pleasingly  awake  by  a  tempered 
spirit,  than  by  mere,  vehemence  of  voice,  is,  of  all  the 
master-strokes  of  an  actor,  the  moat  difficult  to  reach*     Itt 
this  none  have  equalled  Betterton.     He  that  feels  not  him^ 
self  the  passion  he  would  iraise,  will  talk  to  a  sleeping  auT. 
dience.     But  this  was  never  the  fault  of  Qetterton.     A  faiH 
tber  excellence  iii  him  was,,  that  he  could  vary  his  spirtt  to 
th^  different  characters  he  acted.    Those  wild  iippatienb 


184    .  B  E  T  T  E  R  T  O  N. 

starts,  tlntt  fierce  and  flashing  fire  which  be  threw  into 
Hotspur,  never  came  from  the  unruffled  temper  of  bis 
Brutus  (for.  I  bave  more  than  once  seen  a  Brutus  as  warm 
as  Hotspur) :  when  the  Betterton  Brutus  was  provoked  in 
hb  dispute  with  Cassius,  bis  spirits  flew  out  of  bis  eyes ;,  his 
Steady  looks  alone  supplied  that  terror  which  be  disdained 
an  intemperance  in  his  voice  should  rise  to.     Thus,  with  a^ 
settled  dignity  of  contempt,  like  an  unheeding  rock,  he' 
repelled  upon  himself  the  foam  of  Cassius ;  not  but  in  some 
part  of  this  scene,  where  he  reproaches  Cassius,  bis  tem- 
per is  not  under  this  suppression,  but  opens  into  that 
warmth  which  becomes  a  man  of  virtue ;  yet  this  is  that 
hasty  spai^  of  anger,  which  Brutus  himself  endeavours  to 
excuse*     But  with  whatever  strength  of  nature  we  see  the 
poet  shew  at  once  the  philosopher  and  tbe  hero,  yet  the 
image  of  the  actor's  excellence  will  be  still  imperfect  to 
you,  unless  language  could  put  colours  in  our  words  to 
paint  the  voice  with.    Tbe  most  that  a  Vandyck  can  ar- 
rive at  is,  to  make  his  portraits  of  great  persons  seem  to 
think ;  a  Shakspeare  goes  farther  yet,  and  tells  yau  what 
his  pictures  thought ;  a  Betterton  steps  beyond  them  both, 
and  calls  them  from  the  grave  to  breathe,  and  be  them- 
selves again  in  feature,  speech,  and  motion,  at  once  united ; 
and  gratifies  at  once  your  eyei  your  ear,  your  understand- 
ing.    From  these  various  excellencies,  Betterton  had  so 
full  a  possession  of  the  esteem  and  regard  of  his  auditors, 
that,  upon  his  entrance  into  every  scene,  he  seemed  to 
seize  upon  the  eyes  and  ears  of  the  giddy  and  inadvertent. 
To  have  talked  or  looked  another  way,  would  have  been 
thought  insensibility  or  ignorance.     In  ail  his  soliloquies  of 
moment,  the  strongest  intelligence  of  attitude  and  aspect 
drew  you  into  such  an  impatient  gaze  and  ea<:^er  e*xpecta« 
tion,*that  you  almost  imbibed  the  sentiment  with  your  eye, 
before  the  ear  could  reach  it " 

Endowed  with  such  excellences,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
Betterton  attracted  the  notice  of  his  sovereign,  the  pro- 
tection of  the  nobility,  and  the  general  respect  of  all  ranks 
of  people.  The  patentees,  however,  as  there  was  now  only- 
one  theatre,  began  to  consider  it  as  an  instrument  of  accu* 
aaulating  wealth  to  themselves  by  the -labours  of  others; 
and  this  had  such  an  influence  on  their  conduct,  that  the 
actors  had  many  hardships  imposed  upon  them,  and  were 
oppressed  in  the  most  tyrannical  manner.  Betterton  en* 
ieasHmnA  to  convince  the  managers  of  the  injustice  and 


B  E  T  T  E  R  T  O  Ni  m 

absui^ity  of  such  a  bebaTioar;  which  language  not  pleas* 
ing  them,  they  began  to  give  away  some  of  his  capital 
parts  to  young  actors,  supposing  this  would  abate  his  in- 
fluence.    This  policy  hurt  the  patentees,  and  proved  of  ^ 
service  to  Betterton ;  for  die  public  resented  having  plays 
ill  acted,  when  they  knew  they  might  be  acted  better.' 
The  best  players  attached  themselves  wholly  to  Betterton,' 
urging  him.  to  turn  his  thoughts  on  some  method  of  pro- 
curing himself  and  them  justice.     Having  a  general  ac**^ 
quaintance  with  people  of  fashion,  he  represented  the  af^ 
fidr  in  such  a  inanner,  that  at  length,  by  the  intercession 
of  the  earl  of  Dorset,  he  procured  a  patent  for  building  a 
new  playhouse  in   Lincoln's^inn-iields,  which  he  did  by 
subscription.    The  new  theatre  was  opened  in  1695.     Mr. 
Congreve  accepted  a  share  with  this  company,  and  the 
first  play  they  acted  was  his  comedy  of  Love  for  Love. 
The  king  honoured  it  with  his  presence ;  when  Betterton 
spoke  a  prcdogue,  and  Mrs.  Bracegirdie  an  epilogue  on  the 
occasion.     But  notwithstanding   all  the  advantages   this 
company  enjoyed,  and  the  favourable  reception  they  at 
first  met  with,  they  were  unable  to  keep  up  their  run  of 
success,  above  two  or  three  seasons.     Vanbrugh  and  Gib- 
ber, who  wrote  for  the  other  house,  were  expeditious  in 
their  productions ;  and  the  frequency  of  new  pieces  gave 
such  a  turn  in  their  favour,  that  Bettertbn's  company,  with 
all  their  merit,   must  have   been   undone,    had  not  the 
"  Mouniing  Bride"  and  the  "  Way  of  the  World"  come 
to  their  relief,  and  saved  them  at  the  last  extremity.     In 
a  few  years,  however,  it  appearing  that  they  could  not 
mairitaiu  their  independence  without  some  new  support 
from  their  friends,  the  patrons  of  Betterton  opened  a  sub- 
scription for  building  a  theatre  in  the  Haymarket,  which 
was  finished  in  1706.     Betterton  however  being  now  grown 
old,  and  his  health  being  much  impaired  by  constant  ap- 
plication, declined  the  management  of  this  house,  resign- 
ing it  entirely  to  sir  John  Vanbrugh  and  Mr,  Congreve ; 
but  from  the  decay  of  Betterton,  many  of  the  old  players 
dying,  and  other  accidents,  a  re-union  of  the  companies 
seemed  necessary,  and  accordingly  took  place  soon  aften 

When  Betterton  had  reached  seventy,  his  infirmities 
increased  to  a  great  degree*  and  his  fits  of  the  gout  were 
extremely  severe.  His  circumstances  also  grew  daily  worse 
and  worse,  yet  he  kept  up  a  remarkable  spirit  and  serenity 
<tf  mind;  and  acted  when  his  health  would  permit.    The 


ISi  BETTER  TON. 

public,  remembering  the  pleasure  he  had  giren  them, 
would  not  allow  so  deserving  a  man^  after  fifty  years  ser* 
▼ice,  to  withdraw  without  some  marks  of  their  bounty.  In 
the  spring  of  1709,  a  benefit,  which  was  then  a  very  un- 
common.  favour,  was  granted  to  him,  and  the  play  of 
**  Love  for  Love"  was  a<cted  for  this  pnrpose;  He  himself 
performed  Valentine^  Mrs.  Bracegirdle  and  Mrs.  Barry, 
though  they  had  quitted  the  stage,  appeared  on  this  occa-- 
sion ;  the  former  in  the  character  of  Angelica,  and  Mrs. 
Barry  in  that  of  Frail.  After  the  play  was  over,  these  two 
actresses  appeared. leading  on  Betterton  ;  and  Mrs.  Barry* 
spoke  an  epilogue,  written  by  Mr.  Rowe. 

Betterton  got  by  this  benefit  50<l/.  and  a  promise  was' 
given  him,  that  the  favour  should  be  annually  repeated  a« 
long  as  he  lived.  Sept.  20,  in  the  succeeding  winter,  he 
performed  the  part  of  Hamlet  with  great  vivacity.  This 
activity  of  his  kept  off  the  gout  longer  Uian  usual,  but  the 
fit  returned  upon  him  in  the  Spring  with  greater  violence, 
and  it  was  the  more  uiilucky,  as  this  was  the  time  of  his 
benefit.  The  play  he  fixed  upoti  was^  the  "  Maid's  Tra- 
gedy," in  which  he  acted  the  part  of  Melanthus  ;•  and  no- 
tice was  given  thereof  by  his  friend  sir  Richard  Steele  in 
the  Tatler ;  but  the  fit  intervening,  that  he  mightntot  dis- 
appoint the  town,  be  was  obliged  to  submit  to  external 
applications,  to  reduce  the  swelling  of  his  feet,  which' 
enabled  him  to  appear  on  the  stage,  though  he  was  obliged 
to  use  a  slipper.  **  He  was  observed  that  day  to  have  a 
more  than  an  ordinary  spirit,  and  met  with  suitable  ap- 
plause ;  but  the  unhappy  consequence  of  tampering  with 
his  distemper  was,  that  it  flew  into  his  head,  and  killed 
him."  He  died  April  28,  1710,  and  was  interred  in  West- 
minster-abbey. Sir  Richard  Steele  attended  the  cere- 
mony, and  two  days  after  published  a  paper  in  the  Tatler 
to  his  memory^.     Mr.  Booth,  who  knew  him  only  in  his 

*  "  Having  received  notice,"  says  most  charming  poets  I  had  ever  read, 

the  author  of  this  paper,  "  that  the  fa-  Such  an  actoi*  as  Mr.  Betterioa  uught 

mous  Mr.  Betterton  was  to  be  interred  to  be  recorded  with  the  same  respect 

this  evening  in  the  cloisters,  near  West*  as  Rof^chis  amongst  the  Romans.    The 

minster-abbey,  I  was  resolved  to  walk  greatest  orator  has  thought  fit  to  quote 

thither,  and  see  the  last  office  done  to  his  jnOgment,  and  celebrate  bis  life. 

a  man  whom  1  bad  always  very  much  Roscius  was  the  example  to  all  that 

admired,  and  from  whose  action  1  had  would  form  themselves  into  a  proper 

received  more  impressions  of  what  is  '  and   winning  behaviour      His  action 

great  and  noble  in  human  nature,  than  was  ^o  well  adapted  to  the  sentiments' 

from  the  arguments  of  the  most  solid  he  expressed,  that  the  youth  of  Rome^ 

philosophers,  or  the  dcscriptioot  of  the  thought  they  wanted  oply  to  l^  Tif  n 


B  E  T  T  E  R  T  O.N.  1S7 

decline,  used  to  say,  that  he  never  saw  hitn  off  or  on  the 
stage,  without  learning  something  from  him ;  and  fre- 
quently observed,  that  Betterton  was  no  actor,  that  he  put 
on  his  part  with  bis  clothes,  and  was  the  very  man  he  un- 
dertook to  be  till  the  play  was  over,  and  nothing  more.  So 
exact  was  he  in  following  nature,  that  the  look  of  surprise 
he  assumed  in  the  character  of  Hamlet,  astonished  Booth 
(when  he  first  personated  the  ghost)  to  such  a  degree,  that, 
he  was  unable  to  proceed  in  his  part  for  some  moments. 
The  following  dramatic  works  were  published  by  Mr.  Bet- 
terton, 1.  "  The  Woman  made  a  justice,"  a  comedy.  2, 
"  The  Unjust  judge,  or,  Appius  and  Virginia,"  a  tragedy, 
written  originally  by  Mr.  John  Webster,  an  old  poet,  who 
ftourished  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  It  was  only  altered  by 
Mr.  Betterton.  3.  •'  The  Amorous  widow,  or  the  wanton 
wife,"  a  play  written  on  the  plan  of  Moliere*s  George 
Dandin.  * 

BETTI  (Zachary),  an  elegant  Italian  poet  of  the  last 
century,  was  born  at  Verona,  July  16,  1733,  and  began 
bis  studies  at  the  Jesuits'  college  at  Brescia,  but  was  ob- 
liged, by  bad  health,  to  return  home  to  complete  them* 
The  work  on  which  his  reputation  chiefly  rests  is  his  poem 
on  the  silk-worm,  "  Del  baco  da  seta,  canti  IV.  cop  an- 
notaziohi,"  Verona,  1756,  4to,  in  which  he  contrives  to 

tuous,  to  be  as  graceful  in  their  ap-  act  it,  observes,  there  could  not  be  a 
pearance  as  Roscius.  I  have  hardly  a  word  added  ;  that  longer  speeches  had 
notion,  that  any  performance  of  anti-  been  unnaturat,  nay  impossible,  in 
quity  could  surpass  the  action  of  Mr.  Othello's  circumstances.  The  charm- 
Betterton,  in  any  of  the  occasions  in  ing  passage  in  the  same  tragedy,  where 
which  he  has  appeared  on  our  stage,  he  tells  the  manner  of  winning  the 
The  wonderful  agony  which  he  ap-  affection  of  his  mistress,  was  urged 
peared  in,  when  he  examined  the  cir-  with  so  moving  and  graceful  an  ener- 
cumstances  of  the '  handkerchief  in  gy,  that  while  I  walked  in  the  cloisters^ 
Othello;  the  mixmre  of  love  that  1  thought  of  him  with  the  same  con- 
iniruded  upon  his  miud  upon  the  in-  cern  as  if  I  waited  for  the  remains  of  a 
Bocent  answers  f)esdemona  makes,  be-  person  who  had  in  real  life  done  all 
trayed  in  hrs  gestures  such  a  variety  that  I  had  seen  him  represent.  The 
and  vicissitgde  of  passions,  as  would  gloom  of  the  place,  land  faint  lights 
admonish  a  man  to  be  afraid  of  his  before  the  ceremony  appeared,  eon- 
own  heart,  and  perfectly  convince  tributed  to  the  melancholy  disposition 
him,  that  it  is  to  stab  it  to  admit  that  I  was  in ;  and  I  began  to  be  extremely 
worst  of  daggers,  jealousy.  Whoever  afflieted  that  Brutus  and  Cassius  had 
reads  in  his  closet  this  admirable  i|ny  difference;  that  Hotspur's  gaU 
scetie,  will  find  that  he  cannot,  unless  lantry  was  so  ^unfortunate;  and  that 
he  has  as  w^un  an  imagination  as  the  mirth  and  good  humour  of  Falstaff 
Sbafcspeare  himself,  find  any  but  dry,  could  not  exempt  him  from  tlie  grave." 
incoherent,  aiui  broken  sentences ,:  Tatler,  No.  167. 
b«t  a  reader  that  has  seen  Bettertcm  \ 

1  Abndgefl  in  the  last  edition  of  this  Dictionary  from  the  Biog.  Brit— Biog« 
Prax^atica.— Cibbei^BliTjH.— fLif«ofBefterton«  1710,  8vo. 


188  B  E  T  T  I. 

be  original  on  a  subject  that  had  been  amply  treated  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  in  the  ^<  La  Sereide"  of  Tesauro. 
He  dedicated  this  poem  to  the  marquis  Spolverini,  the 
author  of  a  didactic  poem  on  the  cultivation  of  rice,  "  La 
coltivazione  del  Riso/'  His  poetical  efforts  were  all  direct-^ 
ed  to  the  object  of  his  more  serious  labours,  agriculture. 
His  bust  is  in  the  hall  of  the  academy  of  agriculture  at  Ve- 
rona, of  which  he  was  the  founder,  and  among  other  aca« 
demies,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Georg<>philes  of  Florence. 
He  wrote  another  poem,  ^*  he  Cascine,'*  with  notes,  but 
it  does  not  appear  to  have  been  printed.  He  died  at  Ve- 
rona in  1788.  >  . 

BETTINELLI  (Saverio,  or  Xavier),  one  of  the  most 
eminent  Italian  scholars  of  the  last  century,  was  born  at 
Mantua,  July  18,  1718.  After  having  studied  among  the 
Jesuits  in  his  own  country  and  at  Bologna,  he  entered  that 
society  as  a  noviciate  in  1736.  He  then  commenced  a 
new  course  of  studies,  including  the  belles  lettres,  from 
1739  to  1744,  at  Brescia,  where  cardinal  Quirini,  count 
Mazzuchelli,  count  Duranti,  and  other  learned  men,  form- 
ed an  illustrious  academy,  and  there  he  became  first  no- 
ticed by  some  poetical  compositions  for  scholastic  exer- 
cises. When  sent  to  Bologna  to  pursue  his  theological 
course,  be  continued  to  court  his  muse,  and  wrote  for  the 
theatre  of  the  college,  his  tragedy  of  '*  Jonathas.**  The 
number  of  literary  characters  in  this  city  surpassed  that 
which  he  had  found  at  Brescia.  The  Institute  recently 
founded  by  count  Marsigli,  the  Clementine  academy  of 
design,  the  school  of  the  astronomical  poet  Manfredi,  and 
the  growing  reputation  of  his  learned  and  ingenious  pupils 
Zanotti,  Algarotti,  &c.  contributed  to  fix  the  attention  of 
the  literary  world  on  Bologna.  In  this  society  Bettinelli 
completed  his  education,  and  attained  the  age  of  thirty. 
In  1748,  he  went  to  Venice  to  teach  rhetoric,  and  was  fre- 
quently employed  in  a  similar  manner  in  other  places.  Hi* 
superiors  intended  him  for  a  display  of  his  *  oratorical 
talents,  but  the  weakness  of  his  lungs  obliged  him  to  de- 
cline this.  In  1751,  he  was  appointed  director  of  the  col- 
lege of  nobles  at  Parma,  and  remained  here  superintend- 
ing their  poetical  and  historical  studies  for  eight  years, 
occasionally  visiting  the  principal  cities  of  Italy,  on  busi- 
ness, or  for  health.    In  1755,  he  travelled  through  part  of 

^  Biof.  UniveneHt. 


B  E  T  T  I  N  E  L  L  I.  189 

m 

Germany,  to  Strasburgh  and  Nancy,  and  returned  through 
Germany  to  Italy,  bringiDg  with  him  two  young  princes, 
the  sons  or  nephews  of  the  prince  of  Hohenlobe^  who  had 
intrusted  him  with  their  education.     The  following  year 
he  took  a  trip  to  France  with  the  eldest  of  these  princes, 
and  resided  at  Paris,  in  the  college  of  Louis-le- Grand.     It 
was  during  this  trip  that  he  wrote  the  celebrated  letters  of 
Virgil  which  were  printed  at  Venice  with  those  of  Frugoni 
and  Algaretti.    The  opinions,  and  we  may  add,  the  literary 
heresies,  very  ingeniously  urged  in  these  letters  against 
the  reputation  of  the  two  great  luminaries  of  Italian  poetry^ 
and  especially  against  Dante,  created  him  many  enemies, 
and  what  gave  him  most  uneasiness,  involved  him  'with 
Algarotti.     {See  Algarotti).     From  Paris  he  made  seve- 
ral excursions  into  Normandy,  Lorraine,  &Cr  and  paid  a 
visit  to  Voltaire.    From  Geneva  he  went  to  Marseilles,  &c. 
and  arrived  at  Parma  in  1759.    The  same  year  he  went  to 
Verona,  where  he  resided  until  1767,   and  resumed  his 
offices  of  preaching  and  education.     He  was  afterwards 
for  some  years  at  Modena,  and  when  the  order  of  the  Jesuits 
was  suppressed,  he  was  appointed  professor  of  rhetoric. 
On  his  return  to  his  own  country,  he  applied  to  his  literary 
pursuits  with  fresh  ardour,  and  published  many  works,  and 
having  regretted  that  he  had  published  so  much  without 
writing  any  thing  to  please  the  fair  sex,  doubtless  owing 
to  his  ecclesiastical  character,  he  afterwards  Endeavoured 
to  make  up  for  this  in  some  respect  by  publishing  his  cor- 
respondence between  two  ladies,  his  letters  to  Lesbia,  and 
;  lastly,  his  twenty-four  dialogues  on  love.    These  be  pub-* 

i  lished  in  1796,  when  the  war  raged  in  all  parts  of  Italy, 

and  when  the  siege  of  Mantua  by  the  French  obliged  him 
to  leave  it.  He  then  removed  to  Verona,  but  in  1797^ 
after  the  surrender  of  Mantua,  he  returned  again,  and 
although  now  almost  in  his  eightieth  year,  res\;imed  his 
literary  labours  with  his  accustomed  spirit  In  1799,  he 
began  a  new  edition  of  his  works,  which  was  completed  at 
Venice  in  1801,  in  24  vols.  12mo.  He  still  preserved  his 
usual  gaiety  and  health  at  the  age  of  ninety,  until  Sept.  1 3, 
1808,  when  he  died  after  fifteen  days  illness,  with  the 
firmness,  says  his  biographer,  of  a  philosopher  and  a  Chris* 
tian. 

His  principal  works,  according  to  his  own  arrangement 

i  in  the  edition  above  mentioned  are,   1.  ^^  Ragionamenti 

filosofici*  coQ  annotazioni,*'  a  work  both  religious,  moral, 


190  B  E  T  T  I  N  E  L  L  I. 

and  philosophical.     2. ''  DelP  entusiasmo  delle  belle  arti/* 
the  professed  design  of  which  was  to  maintain  and  revived 
the  studies  of  imagination  ;  but  Bettinelli  was  not  himself 
a  decided  enthusiast,  and  instead  of  the  fire  of  imagina- 
tion, we  have  here  much  of  the  coldness  of  method.     3« 
Eight  "  Dialogbi  d'amore,"  in  which  he  expatiates  on  the 
influences  which  imagination,  vanity,  friendship,  marriage^ 
honour,  ambition,  science,   &c.  produce  on  that  passion. 
In  this  work  is  an  eloge  on  Petrarch,  one  of  his  most  happy 
compositions.     4.  ^<  Risorgimento  negli  studi,  nelle  artt  e 
ne'  costumi  dopo  il  mille.'*     This  in  Italy  is  considered  as 
a  superficial  view  of  the  revival  of  arts  and  sciences  after 
the  tenth  century,  and  as  interfering  with  Tiraboschi,  who 
was  then  employed  on  the  same  subject,  but  to  those  who 
may  think  Tiraboschi's  work,  what  it  certainly  is,  insuffer- 
ably tedious,  this  will  afford  much  useful  information  in  a 
shorter  compass.     The  dissertation  on  Italian  poetry  is 
particularly  valuable.     5.  "  Delle  lettere  e  delle  arti  Man-r 
tovane ;  lettere  ed  arti  Modenesi,"  an  excellent  work  as 
far  as  regards  the  literary  history  of  Mantua,   which  was 
now,  if  we  mistake  not,  written  for  the  first  time.  6,  "  Let- 
tere dieci  di  Virgilio  agli  Arcadi."     Of  these  letters  we. 
have  already  spoken,  and  his  attack  on  Dante  and  Pe- 
trarch, although  not  altogether  without  such  a  foundation  as 
strict  and  cold  criticism  may  lay,  will  not  soon  be  forgiven 
in  Italy.     7.  "  Letters  on  the  Fine  Arts  from  a'lady  to  her 
friend,  &c."      8.   His  "  Poetry,"  containing  seven  small 
poems,  or  "  poemetti,"  six  epistles  in  familiar  verse,  .son- 
nets, &c.     In  all  these  he  is  rather  an  elegant,  easy,  and 
ingenious  poet,  than  a  great  one.     Hia  ^^  Raccolte^'   is  a 
spirited  satire  on  the  insipid  collections  of  verses  so  com- 
mon in  Italy.     9.  "  Tragedies,"  entitled  Xerxes,  Jonathan, 
Demetrius,  Poliorcetes,  and  Rome  saved,  with  some  French 
letters,  and  an  Italian  dissertation  on  Italian  tragedy.     The 
**  Rome  saved"  is  a  translation  from  Voltaire,  indifferently 
performed.     He  also  wrote  three  other  tragedies,  but  in- 
ferior to  the  former,  in  which  there  is  an  evident  attempt 
at  the  manner  of  Racine.     10.  "  Lettere  a  Lesbia  Cidonia 
sopra  gli  epigrammi,"  consisting  of  twenty- five  letters,  with 
epigrams,  madrigals,  and  other  small  pieces,  some  trans- 
lated and  some  original.    11,  An  ^^  Essay  on  Eloquence," 
with  other  essays,  letters,  miscellanies,"  &c.     As  a  poet, 
critic,  metaphysician,  and  historian,  Bettinelli's  merit  is 
esteemed  by  his  countrymen  as  of  the  first  rate  ;  and  with 


B  E  T  T  I  N  E  L  L  I.  191 

/ 

/ 

respect  to  the  art  of  composition,  they  account  him  one  of 
the  purest  and  most  elegant  writers  of  the  last  century^ 
one  of  the  few  who  laboured  to  preserve  the  genuine  ^Ita- 
lian idiom  from  any  foreign  mixture.  ^ 

BETTINI  (Mario),  a  learned  Italian  Jesuit,  was  born 
at  Bologna,  Feb.  6,  1582.  He  entered  the  order  in  1595, 
and  was  afterwards  moral,  mathematical,  aud'  philosophical 
professor  in  the  college  of  Parma.  He  died  at  Bologna, 
Nov.  7,  1637.  To  the  study  of  the  more  abstruse  sciences, 
be  united  a  taste  for  the  belles  lettres,  and  especially  La-* 
tin  poetry.  He  has  left,  1.  *^  Rubenus  hilarotragcedia  sa« 
tyra  pastoralis,"  Parma,  1614,  4to.  This  singular  com- 
position, we  are  informed,  was  often  reprinted  in  Italy^ 
translated  into  several  languages,  and  illustrated  by  the 
comments  of  Denis  Ronsfert.  2.  *^  Clodoveus,  sive  Lo- 
dovicus,  tragicum  silviludium,*'  Parma,  1622,  16mo.  3, 
"  Lycseum  morale,  politicum,  et  poeticum,"  Venice,  1626^ 
4to,  a  work  divided  into  two  parts,  the  first  of  which  is  in 
prose,  and  the  second  in  verse,  entitled  "  Urbanitates 
poeticae,"  a  collection  of  lyric  poetry,  which  was  reprinted 
the  same  year,  under  the  title  **  Eutrapeliarum,  seu  Ur-* 
banitatum  Libri  IV."  Venice,  1626,  4to.  It  was  again  re- 
printed with  the  addition  of  the  above  two  dramas,  with 
the  title  of  ^^  Florilegium  variorum  poematum  et  drama- 
tum  pastoralium  Libri  IV."  Lyons,  1633,  12mo,  the  ninth 
edition.  There  is  a  copy  in  the  British  museum,  probably 
of  the  eighth  edition,  dated  1632,  8vo.  4.  <^  Apiaria  uni- 
versae  philosophias,  mathematieas,  &q."  Bologna,  1641—^ 
1656,  3  vols.  fol.  At  the  end  is  an  explanation  of  Euclid, 
"  Euclides  explicatus,"  which  was  printed  separately;  Bo- 
logna, 1642,  and  1645,  fol.  5.  '^  ^rarium  philosophiap^  ma« 
thematicsB,"  ibid.  1648,  8vo.  6.  "Hecreationum  Matbe- 
maticarum  Apiaria  XII.  novissima,"  ibid.  1660,  folio,  which 
is  a  reprint  of  the  third  volume  of  the  **  Apiaria."  * 

BETTS  (John),  an  eminent  physician  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  was  son  of  Mr.  Edward  Betts  by  his  wife  Dorothy, 
daughter  of  Mr.  John  Venables,  of  Rapley  in  Hampshire. 
He  was  born  at  Winchester,  educated  there  in  grammar 
learning,  afterwards  elected  a  scholar  of  Corpus  Cbristi 
college  in  Oxford,  in  February  1642,  and  took  the  degree 
of  bachelor  of  arts,  February  9,  1646,     Being  ejected  by 

1  Biog.  UaiTenelle. — Atheorain«  iqU  V,  p.  330, 
*  3ioff.  Uaiverielle. — ^Moreri. 


I9t  B  E  T  T  S. 

.the  visitors  appointed  by  the  parliament  in  1648,  he  sp^ 
lied  himself  to  the  study  of  physic,  and  commenced  doc* 
tor  in  that  faculty,  April  11,  1654,  having  accumulated 
the  degrees.  He  practised  with  great  success  at  London^ 
but  chiefly  among  the  Roman  catholics,  being  himself  of 
that  persuasion.  He  was  afterwards  appointed  physiciau 
in  ordinary  to  king  Charles  II.  The  time  of  his  death  is 
not  certainly  known.  Dr.  Betts  wrote  two  physical  trea- 
tises, the  first,  *^  De  ortu  et  natura  Sanguinis,"  Lond.  1 669, 
'8vo.  Afterwards  there  was  added  to  it,  ^  Medicinse  cum 
Philosophia  natural!  consensus,'V  Lond.  1662,  Svo.  Dr* 
George  Thomson,  a  physician,  animadverted  upon  our 
author's  treatise  '*  De  ortu  et  natura  Sanguinis,"  in  his 
**  Tru^  way  of  preserving  the  Blood  in  its  integrity."  Dr. 
Belt's  second  piece  is  entitled  ^<  Anatomia  Thorns  Parri 
annum  centesimum  quinquagesimum  secundum  6t  novem 
menses  agentis,  cum  clarissimi  viri  Gulielmi  Harviei  alio* 
rumque  adstautium  medicorum  regiorum  observationibus.'* 
This  Thomas  Parr,' of  whose  anatomy.  Dr.  Betts,  or  rather^ 
according  to  Anthony  Wood,  Dr.  Harvey  drew  up  an  ac- 
count, is  well  known  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able instances  of  longevity  which  this  country  has  afforded. 
He  was  the  son  of  John  Parr  of  Winnington,  in  the  parish 
of  Alberbury,  in  Shropshire,  and  was  booi  in  1483,  in  the 
reign  of  king  Edward  the  Fourth.  He  seems  to  have  been 
of  veiy  different  stamina  from  the  rest  of  mankind,  and 
Dr.  Fuller  tells  us  that  he  was  thus  characterised  by  an  eye- 
witness, 

<'  From  head  to  heel>  his  body  had  all  over, 
Aquick-set>  thick-set^  nat*nd  hairy  cover.*' 

At  an  hundrjed  and  twenty  (or,  more  probably,  an  hundred 
and  two),  he  married  Catherine  Milton,  who  had  a  child 
by  him ;  and  after  that  sera  of  his  life  he  was  employed  in 
threshing,  and  other  husbandry  work.  When  he  was  above 
an  hundred  and  fifty-two  years  of  age,  he  was  brought  up 
to  London,  by  Thomas,  earl  of  Arundel,  and  carried  to 
court.  The  king  said  to  him,  '*  You  have  lived  longer 
than  other  men,  what  have  you  done  more  than  otb^ 
men  ?"  He  replied,  ^^  I  did  penance  when  I  was  an  hun*f 
dred  years  old."  He  slept  away  most  of  his  time  while  he 
lived  in  London,  which  was  only  two  months.  He  died 
in  the  Strand,  on  the  15th  of  November,  1635,  and  was 
buried  in  Westminster-abbey.  His  death  is  thought  to 
have  been  accelerated  by  the  change  of  his  place  and  mode^ 


B  E  T  T  S.  195 

ef  living,  and  by  the  troublesome  concourse  of  visitors  and 
spectators.  There  is  said  to  be  a  portrait  of  him  in  Bel« 
voir  castle,  and  another  in  Ashmole^s  museum.  The  most 
valuable  was  in  tlie  collection  of  the  duchess  of  Portland. 
The  fullest  account  of  him  extant,  is  in  his  "  Life,'*  by 
Taylor,  in  the  Harleian  Miscellany.  * 

BETULEIUS  (SiXTUS,  or  Xystus),  whose  name  in 
German  was  Birck,  is  in  Latin  Betula,  and  hence  Betu* 
leius^  was  born  at  Memmingen,  in  Suabia,  Feb.  2,  1500^ 
and  studied  at  Basil,  chiefly  philosophy  and  the  belles  let- 
tres,  both  which  he  afterwards  taught  with  distinguished 
reputation.  He  was  principal  of  the  college  of  Augsburgh, 
over  which  he  presided  for  sixteen  years,  and  where  he 
died  June  19,  1554.  His  principal  works  are,  1.  "  Notes  ori 
Lactantius,''  printed  with  the  works  of  that  father,  at  Basil^ 
156p,  foL  2.  "  Commentary'^  on  Cicero  de  natura  Deo- 
rum,  ibid.  1550,  8vo,  preferable  to  that  of  Peter  Marso, 
and  reprinted  in  Lescalopier's  "  Humanitas  Theologica/* 
Paris,  1660,  fol.  3.  Three  dramatic  pieces,  Susannah, 
Judith,  and  Joseph,  which  were  highly  esteemed  in  that 
age.  They  are  inserted  in  the  **  Dramata  sacra,"  Basil, 
1547,  2  vols.  8vo.  4.  ^*  Novi  Testamenti  Concordantia 
GrsBca/*  Basil,  1546,  noticed  by  Freytag  as  a  book  of 
great  rarity.  Freytag  also  informs  us  that  Betuleius's  first 
employment,  after  finishing  his  studies,  was  that  of  a  cor-f 
rector  of  the  press  to  the  printers  Cratander, .  Frobenius, 
and  Bebelius.  5.  **  Oracula  Sybillina  Gr.  cum  castiga^ 
tionibus,'*  Basil,  1545,  8vo.* 

BETUSSI  (Joseph),  an  Italian  scholar  of  considerable 
celebrity,  was  born  about  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  at  Bassano.  In  his  early  years  he  shewed  a  taste 
for  polite  literature,  and  published  some  poems  that  were 
read  as  very  extraordinary  productions,  but  unfortunately 
he  took  for  his  guide  the  famous,  or  rather  infamous,  Peter 
Aretin,  both  in  his  studies  and  his  morals.  Under  such 
an  instructor,  we  are  not  to'  wonder  that  bis  irregnlaritiea 
obstructed  his  advancement  in  life.  For  some  time  he 
earned  a  subsistence  at  Venice  in  the  printing-office  of 
Giolito,  and  afterwards  wandered  over  Italy  and  evea 
France,  in  quest  of  better  employment,  which  his  miscon- 
duct always  prevented.     At  length  he  was  recommended 

1  Biog.  Brit— Ath.  Ox.  vol.  11.— Dodd's  Ch.  Hist  toI.  III. 
-.  ^  Biog.   Universelle. — Moreri^  in  Birck.-^Freyta^  Adpar«tiH  Litter^  !•  tad 
Ill.-^Saxii  Onomasticon. 

Vol.  V.  O 


194  B  E  T  U  S  S  I. 

as  secretary  to  a  person  of  rank,  and  is  said  to  hav6  gmi^ 
"to  Spain  in  1562,  in  this  character,  but  on  bis  return  to 
Italy,  he  resumed  his  irregularities,  and  lived  as  usual  on 
precarious  supplies.  The  time  of  bis  death  is  not  ascer- 
tained, but  according  to  a  letter  of  Goselini,  a  contemporary 
writer,  he  was  living  in  1565.  His  works  are,  1,  "Dia- 
logo  amoroso  e  rime  di  Giuseppe  Betussi  e  d'altri  autori," 
Venice,  1545,  8vo.  This  dialogue  is  in  prose  and  verse; 
and  the  speakers  are  Pigua,  Sansovino,  and  Baffa,  a  poetess 
of  his  time.  2.  "  II  Raverta,  dialogo,  &c."  Venice,  1544, 
1545,  &o.  8vo.  3.  Italian  translations  of  Boccaccio's 
three  Latin  works,  **De  casibus  Virorum  etFoeminarum  iU 
lustrium  ;" — **  De  claris  Mulieribus ;" — and  "  De  Genea- 
logia  deorum  ;'*  the  first,  Venice,  1545,  8vo;  the  second, 
with  the  addition  of  illustrious  ladies  from  the  time  of  Boc- 
caccio to  his  own,  ibid.  1547,  8vo;  and  the  third,  same 
year,  4to,  Of  this  last  there  have  been  at  least  thirteen 
editions,  and  many  of  the  others.  4.  "  An  Italian  trans- 
lation of  the  **  Seventh  book  of  the  Eneid,"  Venice,  1546, 
8vo,  which  afterwards  made  part  of  an  entire  translation 
of  that  poem  by  different  hands.  5.  "  La  Leonora,  Ra- 
gionamento  sopra  la  vera  bellezza,"  Lucca,  1557,'  8vo, 
noticed  by  Mazzuchelli  and  Fontanini  among  the  rarest 
books.  6.  "  Ragionamento  sopra  il  Catajo,  luogo  dfel  sig- 
iior  Pio  Enea  Obizzi,"  Padua,  1573,  4 to,  Ferrara,  1669,, 
tvith  additions.  If  this  description  of  a  magnificent  villa 
was  published  by  Betussi  himself,  it  proves  that  he  was 
alive  much  later  than  we  have  before  conjectured.  7. 
^*  L'Immagine  del  tempio  di  Dorina  Giovanna  d'Aragona, 
dialogo,"  Venice,  1557,  8vo.  8.  "Letters"  and  «  Poems" 
in  various  collections.* 

BEVER  (Thomas),  LL.  D.  an  eminent  scholar  and  civi- 
lian, was  born  at  Mortimer  in  Berkshire  in  1725,  and  edu- 
cated at  All  Souls'  college,  Oxford,  where  he  took  the  de- 
gree of  bachelor  of  law,  July  3,  1753,  and  that  of  doctor, 
Aprils,  1758,  and  was  also  a  fellow  of  liis  college.  In 
176^,  with  the  permission  of  the  vice-chancellor,  and  with 
the  approbation  of  the  regius  professor  of  civil  law,  whose 
ill  state  of  health  had  at  that  time  deprived  the  university 
of  the  fruits  of  his  abilities,  he  gave  a  course  of  lectures 
in  the  same  school  where  Blackstone  had  delivered  hia 
celebrated  commentaries,  and  sometimes,  when  the  clasg, 
of  pupils  was  small,  at  his  own  chambers  in  Ail  Souls'  £ol- 

1  Bto(.  UiiiTerseU«< 


BEYER.  195 

lege.  In  1766,  he  published  '*  A  discourse  on  the  study 
jof  Jurisprudence  and  tlie  Civil  Law,  being  an  introduction 
to  (the  above)  course  of  lectures,"  4to,  but  we  presume 
had  not  sufficient  encouragement  to  publish  the  whole. 
He  was  admitted  into  Doctors'  Commons,  Nov.  21,  1758^ 
and  was  afterwards  promoted  to  be  judge  of  the  Cinque 
Ports,  and  chancellor  of  Lincoln  and  Bangor.  In  17B1, 
he  published  "  The  history  of  the  Legal  Polity  of  the 
Roman  state ;  and  of  the  rise,  progress,  and  extent  of  the 
Roman  Laws,"  Lond.  4to,  a  work  in  which  he  has  made 
deep  researches  into  the  constitution  of  the  Roman  i^tate, 
and  displays  an  extensive  fund  of  learning,  connected  with 
the  investigation  of  the  civil  law.  It  is  much  to  be  lament- 
ed that  he  did  not  live  to  complete  hi^  plan :  but  by  his 
will  he  expressly  forbade  any  part  of  his  MSS.  to  be  print** 
ed,  as  not  being  iu  a  fit  state  for  the  public  eye.  Dr.  Coote 
says  he  connnitt^d  the  sequel  of  this  work  to  the  flames  in 
his  last  illness.  He  adds  that  ^^  he  was  a  better  scholar 
than  writer,  and  a  better  writer  than  pleader."  His  pri- 
vate character  is  represented  as  truly  amiable. '  As  a  rela- 
tion he  was  affectionate  and  attentive  ;  and  as  a  friend  aC'- 
tive  and  disinterested.  His  patronage  of  unprotected  ge- 
nius was  a  constant  mark  of  the  benevolence  of  his  heart. 
The  late  Mr.  Hindle,  and  other  adepts  in  music,  of  which 
Dr.(Pever  was  a  devoted  amateur,  attracted  his  esteem. 
Sherwiii,  the  celebrated  engraver,  owed  also  the  greatest 
obligations  to  him  ;  his  grateful  sense  of  which  he  testified 
by  his  valuable  present  of  an  unique  painting  (the  only  one 
Sherwin  ever  executed),  of  Leonidas  taking  leave  of  his 
wife  and  infant  son,  now  or  lately  in  possession  of  Sam. 
Bever,  esq.  of  Mortimer  in  Berkshire,  the  doctor's 
younger  brother.  Dr.  Bever  died  at  his  house  in  Doctors' 
Commons,  Nov.  8,  1791,  of  an  asthma,  which  probably 
would  not  then  have  been  fatal,  if  he  had  suffered  himself 
.to  be  removed  from  London  to  a  less  turbid  air,  but  in 
what  concerned  his  health,  he  was  reluctant  to  take  advice. 
-He  was  interred  in  Mortimer  church,  Berkshire,  and  a 
mural  monument  erected,  in  the  chancel,  to  his  memory.* 
BEVERIDGE  (William),  a  learned  divine  in  the  se- 
venteenth century,  and  bishop  of  St.  Asaph,  was  born  at 
'Barrow  in  Leicestershire  (where  his  grandfather,  father^ 
and  brother,  were  vicars)  in  1636-7.    On  the  24th  of  May^ 

!  CooU's  Catalogue  of  Ciyilians.-^eQt.  Mag.  vol.  XXI.  aad  UYIIL  4ec* 

0  2  ' 

/ 


av 


196  B  E  V  E  R  I  D  G  E. 

1653,  he  was  admitted  of  St.  John's  college,  Cambridge 
and  took  his  degrees  of  bachelor  of  arts  in  1656,  mas- 
ter of  arts  in  1660,  and  of  doctor  of  divinity  in  1679. 
At  his  coming  to  the  university,  he  closely  applied  him- 
self to  the  study  of  the  learned  languages ;  and,  by 
his  great  diligence  and  application,  soon  became  so  well 
skilled,  particularly  in  all  Oriental  learning,  that  when 
he  Xvas  not  above  eighteen  years  of  age,  he  wrote  a 
treatise  of  the  excellency  and  use  of  the  Oriental  tongues, 
especially  the  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  Syriac,  Arabic,  and 
Samaritan,  with  a  Syriac  Grammar,  in  three  bpoks;  which 
he  published  when  he  was  about  twenty  years  of  age. 
He  also  distinguished  himself,  at  the  same  time,  by  his 
early  piety  and  seriousness  of  mind,  and  by  his  exem- 
plary sobriety  and  integrity  of  life,  all  which  procured 
him  great  esteem  and  veneration.  January  3,  1660-1, 
he  was  ordained  deacon  in  the  church  of  St.  Botolph, 
Aldersgate,  by  Robert,  bishop  of  Lincoln ;  and  priest,  in 
^  the  same  place,  the  31st  of  that  month.  About  this  time. 
Dr.  Sheldon,  bishop  of  London,  collated  him  to  the  vicar-^ 
jkge  of  Ealing  in  Middlesex.  On  the  22d  of  November, 
1672,  he  was  chosen,  by  the  lord-mayor  and  aldermen  of 
London,  rector  of  St.  Peter's,  Cornhill,  London,  and  then 
he  resigned  the  vicarage  of  Ealing«  He  now  applied  him- 
self, with  the  utmost  labour  and  zeal,  to  the  discharge  of 
his  ministry,  and  so  instructive  was  he  in  his  discourses 
from  the  pulpit,  so  warm  and  affectionate  in  his  private 
exhortations,  so  regular  and  uniform  in  the  public  wor- 
ship of  the  church,  and  in  every  part  of  his  pastoral  func- 
tion, and  so  remarkably  were  his  labours  crowned  with 
success,  that  as  he  himself  was  justly  styled  "  the  great 
reviver  and  restorer  of  primitive  piety,"  so  his  parish  was 
deservedly  proposed,  as  the  best  model  and  pattern,  for 
the  rest  of  its  neighbours  to  copy  after.  His  singular  me- 
rit having  recommended  him  to  the  favour  of  his  diocesan, 
bishop  Henchman,  he  was  collated  by  him,  on  the  22d  of 
December,  1674,  to  the  prebend  of  Chiswick,  in  the  ca- 
thedral of  St.  Paul's,  London ;  and,  by  his  successor  bi- 
shop Compton,  he  was  also,  on  the  3d  of  November,  1681, 
collated  to  the  archdeaconry  of  Colchester.  In  this  dignity 
he  behaved,  as  he  had  done  before  in  every  station  of  life, 
in  a  most  regular^  watchful,  and  exemplary  manner :  and 
not  satisfied  with  the  false,  or  at  least  imperfect,  reports 
yiv^a  in  by  church-wardens  at  visitations,  be  visited  every 


B  £  V  E  R  I  D  G  E,  197 

parish  within  his  archdeaconry  in  person.  November  the 
5tb,  1684,  he  was  installed  prebendary  of  Canterbury,  and 
became  also  chaplain  to  king  William  and  queen  Mary. 
In  1691,  he  was  offered,  but  refused  the  see  of  Bath  and 
Wells,  then  vacant  by  the  deprivation  of  Dr.  Thomas  Kenn, 
for  not  taking  the  oaths  to  king  William  and  queen  Mary. 
But  though  he  refused  that  see,  because,  probably,  being 
a  man  of  a  tender  conscience,  he  would  not  eat  Dr.  Kenn's 
bread,  according  to  the  language  of  those  times,  he  after- 
wards accepted  of  that  of  8t.  Asaph,  vacant  by  the  trans- 
lation of  Dr.  George  Hooper  to  Bath  and  Wells,  and  was 
consecrated  July  16,  1704.  Being  placed  in  this  eminent 
station,  bis  pare  and  diligence  increased  in  proportion  as 
his  power  in  the  church  was  enlarged  ;  and  now  when  his 
authority  was  extended  to  larger  districts,  he  still  pursued 
the  same  pious  and  laborious  methods  of  advancing  the 
honour  and  interest  of  religion,  by  watching  over  both 
clergy  and  laity,  and  giving  them  all  necessary  direction 
and  assistance,  for  the  effectual  performance  of  their  re^ 
spective  duties.  Accordingly,  he  was  ho  aoQuer  advanced 
to  the  episcopal  chair,  but  in  a  pathetic-letter  to  the  clergy 
of  bis  diocese,  he  recommended  to  them  the  "  duty  of 
catechising  and  instructing  the  people  committed  to  their 
charge,  in  the  principles  of  the  Christian  religion  ;  to  the 
end  they, might  know  what  they  were  to  believe. and  do 
in  order  to  salvation  :''  and  lold  them,  ^^  he  thought  it  ne-^ 
cessary  to  begin  with  that,  without  whix^h,  whatever  else 
be  or  they  should  do,  would  turn  to  little  or  no  account, 
as  to  the  main  end  of  the  ministry.^'  And  to  enable  them 
to  do  this  the  more  effectually,  he  sent  them  a  plain  and 
easy  *^  Exposition  upon  the  Church  Catechism."  This 
good  ipan  did  not  enjoy  his  episcopal  dignity  abave  three 
years  seven  months  and  twenty  days ;  for  he  died  fit  his 
lodgings  in  the  cloisters  in  Westminster-abbey,  March 
5f  1707-8,  in  the  seventy-first  year  of  his  age,  and  wasi 
buried  in  St.  Paul's  cathedral.  He  left  the  greatest  part  o| 
his  estate  tp  the  societies  for  propagating  the  gospel,  and 
promoting  Christi?in  knowledge.  To  the  curacy  of  Mountn 
Sorrel  in  particular,  and  vicarage  of  Barrow  in  the  county 
of  Leicester,  in  o*  thankful  remembrance  pf  God'g  mercies 
Touchsafed  to  him  thereabouts,  \\e  bequeathed  twenty 
pounds  a  year  for  ever,  on  condition  that  prayers  be  rea<Jl 
morning  and  evening  every  day,  according  to,  the  Liturg)9^ 
Qf  tbe  cUiirc])  of  Englaixd^  ip  th^  chapel,  aiid  p?irish  churoh 


198  B  E  V  E  R  I  D  G  E. 

aforesaid ;  with  the  sum  of  forty  shillings  yearly,  to  be  di-' 
vided  equally  upon  Christmas-eve,  among  eight  poor  house-*' 
keepers  of  Barrow,  as  the  minister  and  churchwardens 
should  agree,  regard  being  had  especially  to  those  who 
had  been  most  constantly  at  prayers,  and  at  the  sacrament 
of  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  foregoing  year.  And  if  it  should 
so  happen,  that  the  Common-Prayer  could  not  be  read  in 
the  church  or  chapel  aforesaid,  his  will  then  was,  that  what 
should  have  been  given  in  either  place  for  that,  be  in  each 
place  allowed  to  one  chosen  by  the  vicar  of  Barrow  to  teach 
school,  and  instruct  the  youth  in  the  principles  of  the 
Christian  religion,  according  to  the  doctrine  of  the  church 
of  England.  His  works  were  many,  and  full  of  great  va- 
riety of  learning.  Those  pubUshed  by  himself  were  as- 
fbllows:  1.  ^^  De  Linguarum  Orientalium,  prsesertim  He- 
braics,  Chaldaicse,  Syriacae,  Arabica^,  et  Samaritanae,  pras- 
RtantiH  et  usu,"  &c.  mentioned  above.  Lond.  1658,  8vo. 
2.  ^'  Institutionum  Chronologicarum  libri  duo,  una  cum  to- 
tidem  Arithmetices  Chronologicae  libellis,"  Lond.  1669^ 
4to.  3.  ^^  XuvoiiMWy  sive  Pandectae  Canonum  SS.  Aposto- 
lorum,  et  Conciliorum  ab  Ecclesi^  Grsec^  receptorum ; 
necnon  Canonicarum  SS.  Patrum  Epistolarum ;  una  cum 
Scholiis  antiquorum  singulis  eorum  annexis,  et  scriptis 
aliis  hue  spectantibus ;  quorum  plurima  e  Bibliothecas  JBod- 
leians  aliarumque  MSS.  Codicibus  nunc  primum  edita: 
reliqua  cum  iisdem  MSS.  summ^  fide  et  diligeutisl  coUata,** 
Oxonii,  1672,  2  vols.  fol.  4.  ^^  Codiex  Canonum  Ecclesiao 
PrimitivsB  vindicatus  et  illustratus,"  Lond.  1679,  4to.  5^ 
f^  The  Church  Catechism  explained,  for  the  use  of  the 
diocese  of  St.  Asaph,"  Lond.  J  704,  4to,  reprinted  several 
times  since.  Next  follow  bishop  Beveridge's  works,  pub- 
lished  after  his  decease  by  his  executor  Mr.  Timothy  Gre-». 
gory ;  1.  **  Private  Thoughts  upon  Religion,  digested  into 
twelve  articles,  with  practical  resolutions  formed  there- 
upon.^* Written  in  his  younger  years  (when  he  was  about 
twenty-three  years  old),  for  the  settling  of  his  principles 
and  conduct  of  life,  Lond.  1709.  2.  **  Private  Thoughts 
upon  a  Christian  Life ;  or,  necessary  directions  for  its  be- 
ginning and  progress  upon  earth,  in  order  to  its  final  per- 
fection in  the  Beatific  Vision,"  part  ^I.  Lond.  1709.  3. 
*'  The  great  necessity  and  advantage  of  Public  Prayer  and 
frequent  Communion.  Designed  to  revive  primitive  piety; 
with  meditations,  ejaculations,  and  prayers,  before,  at^ 
a&d  after  the  sacrament/*  Lond«  1710..    These  have  beeo 


B  E  V  E  R  I  D  G  E.  l»9 

reprinted  several  times  iu  8vo  and  12mo.  4.  **  One  hun* 
dred  and  fifty  Sermons  and  Discourses  on  several  sub- 
jects," Lond.  L708,  &c.  in  12  vols.  8vo,  reprinted  at  Lon- 
don, 17iy,  in  2  vols.  fol.  5.  "Thesaurus  Theologicus ; 
or,  a  complete  system  of  Divinity,  sumtijed  up  in  brief 
notes  upon  select  places  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament; 
wherein  the  sacred  text  is  reduced  under  proper  heads ; 
explained  and  illustrated  with  the  opinions  and  authorities 
of  the  ancient  fathers,  councils,  &c."  Lond.  1711,  4  vols. 
8vo.  &.  "  A  defence  of  the  book  of  Psalms,  collected 
into  English  metre  by  Thomas  Sternhold,  John  Hopkins, 
and  others  ;  with  critical  Observations  on  the  New  Version, 
compared  with  the  Old,"  Lond.  1710,  Svo.  In  this  book 
he  gives  the  old  version  the  preference  to  the  new.  7. 
«  Exposition  of  the  XXXIX  Articles,"  Lond.  1 7 1 0, 1 7 1 6,  fol. . 
Bishop  Beveridge's  character  is  in  general  represented 
in  a  most  advantageous  light.  He  was  a  person  of  the 
strictest  integrity,  of  true  and  sincere  piety,  of  exem- 
plary charity,  and  of  great  zeal  for  religion,  and  so 
highly  esteemed,  that  when  he  was  dying,  one  of  the 
chief  of  his  order  deservedly  said  of  him,  "  There  goes 
one  of  the  greatest  and  of  the  best  men  that  ever  England 
bred."  He  is  also  celebrated  as  a  man  of  extensive  and 
almost  universal  learning;  furnished,  to  a  very  eminent 
degree,  with  all  useful  knowledge;  and  much  to  be  ad- 
mired for  his  readiness  in  the  scriptures,  which  he  had 
thoroughly  studied,  so  that  he  was  able  to  produce  suitable 
passages  from  them  on  all  occasions,  and  happy  in  explain-\ 
ing  them  to  others.  Mr.  Nelson  say$,  that  he  cannot  for- 
bear acknowledging  the  favourable  dispensation  of  Provi- 
dence to  the  present  age,  in  blessing  it  with  so  many  of 
those  pious  discourses,  which  our  truly  primitive  prelate 
delivered  from  the  pulpit;  and  that  he  the  rather  takes 
the  liberty  to  call  it  a  favourable  dispensation  of  Provi- 
dence, because  the  bishop  gave  no  orders  himself  that 
they  should  be  printed,  but  humbly  neglected  them,  as 
not  being  composed  for  the  press.  But  that  this  circum>- 
stance  is  so  far  from  abating  the  worth  of  the  sermons, 
or  diminishing  the  character  of  the  author,  that  it  raises 
the  excellency  of  both,  because  it  shews  at  once  the 
true  nature  of  a  popular  discourse ;  which  is  to  improve 
the  generality  of  hearers,  and  for  that  purpose  to  ^peak 
to  them  in  ^a  plain  ^nd  intelligible  style, 


400  B  E  V  E  R  I  D  G  E. 

Dr.  Henry  Felton  says,  that  our  learned  and  venerable 
bishop    delivered   himself  with  those   ornaments    alone/ 
which  his  subject  suggested  to   him,  and  wrote  in   that 
plainness  and  solemnity  of  style,  that  gravity  and  sim- 
plicity, which  gave  authority  to  the  sacred  truths  he  taught, 
and  unanswerable  evid^ce  to  the  doctrines  he  defended. 
That  there  is  something  so  great,  primitive,  and  apostoli- 
cal, in  his  writings,  that  it  creates  an  awe  and  veneration 
in  our  mind ;  that  the  importance  of  hi$  subjects  is  above 
the  decoration  of  words;  and  what  is  great  and  majestic  in 
itself  looketh  most  like  itself,  the  less  it  is  adorned.     The 
author  of  one  of  the  Guardians,  having  made  an  extract 
6ut  of  one  of  the  bishop's  sermons,  tells  us,  that  it  may 
for  acuteness  of  judgment,  ornament  of  speech,  and  true 
sublime,  compare  with  any  of  the  choicest  writings  of  the 
ancients,  who  lived  nearest  to  the  apostles'  times.     But 
the  author  of  a  pamphlet  published  in  171 1,  entitled  **  A 
short  view  of  Dr.  Beveridge's  Writings,"  passes  a  very  dif- 
ferent judgment  upon  bishop  Beveridge's  works,  in  order 
to  stop,  as  he  says,  the  mischief  they  are  doing,  and  that 
which  the  publication  of  his  Articles  may  do. — With  regard 
to  the  bishop's  language,  he  observes,  that  he  delights  in 
jingle  and  quibbling;  affects  a  tune  and  rhyme  in  all  he 
says,  and  rests  arguments  upon  nothing  but  words  and 
sounds,  &c.  &c.  —  But  perhaps  this  animadverter  will  by 
somie  be  ranked  among  the  persons,  of  whom  Dr.  Lupton 
gives  the  following  character :  "  Those  who  are  censorious 
enough  to  reflect  with  severity  upon  the  pious  strains^ 
which  are  to  be  found  in  bishop  Beveridge,  &c.  may  possibly 
be  good  judges  of  an  ode  or  essay,  but  do  not  seem  to 
criticise  justly  upon  sermons,  or  express  a  just  value  for 
spiritual  things.*'     After  all,  whatever  faults  may  be  found 
in  bishop  Beveridge's  posthumous  works,  must  be  charged 
to  the  injudiciousness  of  his  executor.     He  must  himself 
have  been  an  extraordinary  man  who,  with  all  the  faults 
pointed  out  by  the  author  of  "  The   short  view,"  could 
have  conciliated  the  good  opinion  and  favour  of  men  of  all 
principles,*  and  the  most  eifiinent  patrons  of  the  church  ; 
and  the  estimation  in 'which  his  works  continue  to  be  held 
to  this  day,  prove  how  little  he  was  injured  by  the  captious 
quibblings  of  a  writer  who  was  determined  to  find  fsLult 
^itb  that,  into  the  spirit  of  which  he  could  not  enter.,   The 
Ufe  of  bishop  Beveridge^  piiefixed  to  the  folio  edition  of 


3  E  V  E  R  I  D  G  E.  201 

hid  works,  was  written  bj'  Mr.  Kimber,  a  dissenting  mini- 
ster of  the  Baptist  persuasion,  in  London.  * 

BEVERLAND  (Adrian),  born  at  Middleburgh  in  Zea- 
land, in  1653  or  1654,  was  a  man  of  genius,  but  prosti- 
tuted his  talents  by  employing  them  in  the  composition 
of  ioose   and  impious  pieces.  iWe  took  the  degree  of 
doctor  of  law,  and  became  an  advocate ;  but  his  passion 
for  polite  literature  diverted  him  from  any  pursuits  in  that 
way.     He  was  a  passionate  admirer  of  Ovid,  Catullus,  Pe- 
tronius,  and  appears  to  have  derived  from  them  that  cor- 
ruption of  morals  which,  more  or  less,  appeared  in,  the 
whole  of  his  life  and  writings,     Mr.  Wood  tells  us,  that 
Beverland  was  at  the  university  of  Oxford  in  1672.     In 
1678,  he  published  his  treatise  on  original  sin.     It  is  en- 
titled   "  Peccatum  originate  nouT  sloxiv,    sic  nuncupatum 
philologice  problematicos  elucubratum  a  Themidis  alumno. 
Vera  redit  facies,  dissimulata  perit.    Eleutheropoli.    Extra 
plateam    obscuram,    privilegio   authoris,    absque   ubi  et 
quando."     At  the  end  of  the  book  are  these  words :  "  In 
horto   Hesperidum  typis  Adami  Evae  Terrae  filii,   167S.'* 
His  design  in  this  piece  is  to  shew,  that  Adam^s  Hsin  con- 
sisted entirely  in  the  commerce  with  his  wife,  and  that 
original  sin  is  nothing  else  but  the  inclination  of  the  sexes 
to  each  other.     For  this  he  was  summoned  before  the  uni- 
versity of  Leyden,  sent  to  prison,  and  his  name  struck  out 
of  the  list  of  students ;  but  he  was  discharged  after  he  had 
paid  a  fine,  and  taken  an  oath  that  he  would  never  write 
again  upon  such  subjects.     He  then  removed  to  Utrecht, 
where  he   led  a  most  dissolute  life,  and  boasted  every 
where  of  his  book,  which  bad  been  burnt  at  Leyden.     His 
behaviour  at  length  obliged  the  magistrates  to  send  him 
notice  privately,  that  they  expected  he  should  imme<liately 
leave  the  city.     He  wrote  a  severe  satire  against  th0  ma- 
gistrates and  ministers  of  Leyden,    under   the    title  of 
*'  Vox  clamantis  in  deserto,"  which  was  dispersed  in  ma- 
nuscript: but  finding  after  this,  that  it  would  not  be  safe 
for  him  to  remain  in  Holland,  he  went  over  to  England, 
where  Dr.  Isaac  Vossius  procured  him  a  pension.     His^in- 
come  Was  inconsiderable,  yet  he  spent  the  greatest  part  of 
it  in  purchasing  scarce  books,  indecent  prints,  pictures^ 
medals,  and  strange  shells.     He  seems  afterwards  to  have 
repented  of  his  irregular  life  :  and  as  an  atonement,  he  is 

Y  Bio^.  Brit. — Gen.  Diet,  in  which  is  a  larger  account  of  His  wprks — and 
Nichols's  Leic.  vol.  III.  where  is  ao  ample  accouot  of  the  Qm*  Bcveridgiana, 


JW3  B  E  V  E  R  L  A  N  D. 

said  to  have  published  his  treatise  "  De  Fornicatione  ca^- 
veiida,"  in  1698.  He  tells  us,  in  an  advertisement  pre- 
fixed to  this  book,  that  it  was  the  result  of  his  repentance ; 
and  s^aks  of  his  loose  pieces  in  the  following  terms :  "  I 
condemn  tbe  warmth  of  my  imprudent  youth ;  I  detest  my 
loose  style  and  my  libertine  sentiments.  I  thank  Gody 
who  has  removed  from  my  eyes  the  veil  which  blinded  my 
sight  m  a  miserable  manner,  and  who  would  not  suffer  me 
aiiy  longer  to  seek  out  weak  arguments  to  defend  this 
crime.  He  has  likewise  inspired  me  with  such  a  resolu- 
tion, that  I  have  burnt  all  that  I  hare  written  upoti  this , 
subject,  and  sent  to  tbe  rector  magnificus  of  the  university 
of  Leyden,  the  books  *  De  Prostibulis  Veteirum.'  I  de- 
sire all  persons  whe  have  procured  any  manuscript  of  my 
writing  either  privately,  or  in  any  other  method,  to  return 
it  to  me,  that  I  may  burn  it  myself.  And  if  any  person 
should  refuse  this,  I  wish  him  all  the  misfortunes  which 
use  to  happen  to  one  who  violates  his  trust/'  Yet,  not- 
withstanding these  expressions,  his  sincerity  has  been  sus- 
pected ;  and  it  has  been  alleged,  that  he  wrote  this  last 
piece  with  no  other  view  than  to  raise  the  curiosity  of 
mankind,  to  inquire  after  the  former.  After  Vossius'a 
death,  he, fell  into  extreme  poverty,  and  incurred  univer- 
sal hatred  from  the  many  violent  satires  which  he  bad  Writ-^ 
ten  against  different  persons.  Besides  this  misfortune,  his 
reasoQ  began  to  be  affected;  and  in  tbe  year  1712,  he 
wandered  from  one  part  of  England  to  another,  imagining 
that  two  hundred  men  had  confederated  together  to  assas- 
sinate him.  It  is  probable  that  he  died  soon  after ;  for  we 
bear  no  more  of  him  from  that  time.  In  1746,  twelve 
Latin  letters  of  Beverland  were,  published,  addressed  to 
some  learned  men  of  his  time ;  but  our  authority  does  not 
state  where  this  publication  made  its  appearance.  While 
in  England,  he  must  at  one  time  have  been  in  some  repu- 
tation, as  sir  Godfrey  Kneller  made  a  fine  portrait  of  him, 
dated  1689,  which  is  now  in  the  picture  gallery,  Oxford.* 
BEVERLY  (John  of),  in  Latin  Beverlacius,  arch- 
bishop of  York  in  the  eighth  century,  was  born  of  a  noble 
family  among  tbe  English  Saxons,  at  Harpham,  a  small 
town  in  Northumberlan'd.  He  was  first  a  monk,  and  after- 
wards abbot  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Hilda.  He  yms  in- 
structed in  the  learned  languages  by  Theodore,  archbishop 

4  Geo.  Diet— Biog.  Univ.-— Diet.  Hist*— Moreri.— -Saxii  Onoinast. — Gran|{ei^« 


BEVERLY,  J0$ 

of  Canterbury,  and  was  justly  esteemed  one  of  the  best 
scholars  of  his  time.  Alfred  of  Beverly,  who  wrote  his 
hfe,  pretends  that  he  studied  at  Oxford,  and  took  there 
the  degree  of  master  of  arts ;  but  bishop  Godwin  assures 
us  this  cannot  be  true,  because  such  distinction  of  degrees 
was  not  then  known  at  Oxford,  nor  any  where  else.  Our 
abbot^s  merit  recommended  him  to'  the  favour  of  Alfred, 
king  of  Northumberland,  who,  in  the  year  685,  advanced 
him  to  the  see  of  Hagustalci,  or  Hexham^  and,  upon  the 
death  of  archbishop  Bosa  in  687,  translated  him  to  that  of 
York.  This  prelate  was  tutor  to  the  famous  Bede,  and 
Uved  in  the  strictest  friendship  with  Acca,  and  other  Anglo- 
Saxon  doctors,  several  of  whom  he  put  upon  writing  com- 
ments on  the  scriptures.  He  likewise  founded,  in  704,  a 
college  at  Beverly  for  secular  priests.  After  he  had  go- 
verned the  see  of  York  thirty-four  years,  being  tired  with 
the  tumults,  and  confusions  of  the  church,  he  divested  him- 
self of  the  episcopal  character,  and  retired  to  Beverly; 
and  four  years  after  died  May  7,  721.  The  day  of  his 
death  was  appointed  a  festival  by  a  synod  held  at  London 
in  1416.  Bede,  and  other  monkish  writers,  ascribe  seve« 
ral  miracles  to  hiity  Between  three  and  four  hundred  years 
after  his  death,  his  body  was  taken  up  by  Alfric,  arch- 
bishop of  York,  and  placed  in  a  shrine  richly  adorned  with 
silver,  gold,  and  precious  stones.  Bromton  relates,  that 
William,  the  conqueror,  when  he  ravaged  Northumberland 
with  a  numerous  army,  spared  Beverly  Slone,  out  of  a  re«r 
ligious  veneration  for  St.  John  of  that  place.  This  prelate 
wrote  some  pieces,  1.  *^  Pro  Luca  exponendo;"  an  essay 
towards  an  exposition  of  St.  Luke,  addressed  to  Bede. 
2.  '^  Homiliss  in  Evangelia."  3.  Epistolae  ad  Hildam  Ab- 
batissam."  4.  ^^  Epistolae  ad  Herebaldum,  Andenum,  et 
Bertin una." r— Pits  mentions  another  John  of  Beverly,  so 
galled  from  the  place  of  his  nativity,  who  was  a  Carmelite 
monk  in  the  fourteenth  century,  and  a  very  learned  man, 
and  doctor  and  professor  of  divinity  at  Oxford,  He  flou- 
rished about  1390,  in  the  reign  of  Richard  IL  and  wrote, 
1.  ^^  Questiones  in  magistrum  sententiarum ;''  in  four 
books.     2.  ^'  Disputationes  ordinarise ;"  in  one  book.  ^ 

BEVERINI  (Bartholomew),  a  learned  Italian  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  was  born  at  Lucca,  May  5,  1629. 
in  classical  learning  he  made  such  progress,  that^  when 

I  Biog.  Brit.— Bale.— Pits.— Tanner. 


S04  B  E  V  E  R  I  N  I. 

only  fifteen,  he  wrote  notes  and  comments  on  the  princi-* 
pal  poets  of  the  Augustan  age,  which  drew  the  notice  and 
approbation  of  the  learned.  In  bis  sixteenth  year,  be 
went  to  Rome  and  entered  the  congregation  of  the  regular 
clerks,  called  the  congregation  of  the  "  Mother  of  God.'* 
After  completing  his  theological  studies,  he  taught  divinity 
for  four  years,  at  the  end  of  which  he  was  invited  to  Lucca 
to  be  professor  of  rhetoric.  From  the  salary  of  this  place 
he  was  enabled  to  maintain  his  aged  father  and  family,  and 
lYOuld  not  afterwards  accept  of  any  promotion  from  his  con- 
gregation, that  his  studies  might  not  be  interrupted  by 
affairs  of  business.  He  corresponded  with  many  illustrious 
personages  of  his  time,  and  among  others  with  Christina, 
queen  of  Sweden,  who  often  requested  of  him  copies  of 
his  sermons  and  poems.  The  facility  with  which  he  wrote 
appears  by  his  translation  of  the  Eneid,  which  he  says,  in 
the  preface,  he  completed  in  thirteen  months.  He  died 
of  a  malignant  fever,  Oct.  24,  1686.  He  left  a  great 
many  works,  of  which  his  biographer,  Fabroni,  has  given  a 
minute  catalogue.  The  principal  are  :  1.  ^^  Sa)culum  ni« 
veum ;  Roma  virginea ;  et  Dies  niveus,'*  three  small 
Latin  collections  on  the  same  subject,  "  De  nivibus  Ex- 
quilinis,  sive  de  sacris  nivibus,"  Rome,  1650,  1651,  and 
1652,  4to,  each  containing  two  discourses  or  harangues, 
and  a  Latin  and  Italian  idyl.  2.  ^^Rime,'^  Lucca,  1654, 
12mo,  reprinted  at  Rome  1666,  with  additions,  and  de- 
dicated to  queen  Christina.  3.  *^  Discorsi  sacri,"  Lucca, 
165S,  12mo,  Venice,  1682.  4.  "  Carminum  Lib.VIL'* 
ibid.  1674,  12mo.  5.  "  Eneide  di  Virgilio,  trasportata  in 
ottavb  rima,"  ibid,  1680,  12mo.  This  much  esteemed 
translation  has  been  often  reprinted.  The  last  edition  is 
that  of  Rome,  1700,  4to.  6.  "  Prediche,  discorsi,  ele- 
zioni,"  a  posthumous  work,  Vienna,  .1692,  4to.  7.  "Syn- 
tagma  de  ponderibus  et  mensuris,'^  another  posthumous 
work,  Lucca,  171],  8vo,  a  very  learned  performance, 
often  reprinted,  and  added  to  all  collections  on  the  sub^ 
ject.  Among  his  unpublished  works  is  a  historical  account 
of  Lucca,  which  it  is  rather  surprizing,  should  have  been 
so  long  left  in  that  state ;  it  is  entitled  ^^  Annalium  ab 
origine  Lucensis  urbis  Lib.  XV."  Fabroni,  who  highly 
praises  these  annals,  seems  at  a  loss  to  account  for  their 
not  having  been  published,  but  informs  us  that  Beverini 
had  his  enemies  as  well  as  his  admirers.  ^ 

^  Bio|f.  UQiverseUe.-f-Fabroni  Vit»  ItaloraaHj  Tol.  XIX.— l^uzuc)iellv 


6  E  Y  E  R  W  I  C  K,  ^(ja 

B  EVER  WICK  (John  de),  in  Latin  Beverovicius,  was 
Iborn  at  Dort,  Sept.  17,  1594,  of  a  noble  family.  He 
was  brought  up  from  bis  infancy  under  the  eyes  of  Gerard 
John  Vossius,  and  visited  several  universities  for  acquiring 
knowledge  in  the  art  of  medicine,  and  took  his  doctor's 
degree  at  Padua.  He  practised  in  the  place  of  his  na« 
tivity,  where  he  likewise  filled  several  civic  posts  with  dis* 
tinction.  He  died  Jan.  19,  1647,  aged  51  ;  and  though 
his  course  was  not  remarkably  long,  yet  Daniel  Heinsius^ 
in  the  epitaph  he  made  on  him,  calls  him  ^*  Vitae  artifex,. 
mortis  fugator."  His  principal  works  are:  1.  "  De  ter- 
mino  vitae,  fatali  an  mobili  ?"  Rotterdam,  1644,  8vo;  and 
Leyden,  1651,  4to.  This  book  made  some  noise  at  the 
time,  and  professes  to  discuss  the  question.  Whether  the 
term  of  life  of  every  individual  be  fixed  and  immutable  ; 
or,  whether  it  may  be  changed.  2.  "  De  excellentia 
sexds  Fceminei,"  Dordrecht,  1639,  8vo.  S.  "  Decalculo,** 
Leyden,  1638 — 41,  8vo.  4.  "  Introductio  ad  Medicinant 
indigenam,"  Lej^den,  1663,  12mo.  This  book,  says  Vig- 
neul  Marville,  is  a  very  small  volume,  but  extremely  well 
filled.  Beverovicius  proves  in  it,  to  every  man's  satisfac* 
tion,  that,  without  having  recourse  to  remedies  from  fo- 
reign countries,  Holland  should  be  contented  wirfi  her  own 
in  the  practice  of  medicine.  His  entire  works  were  printed 
in  Flemish,  at  Amsterdam,   1656,  4to.^ 

BEVIN  (EtWAY),  a  musician  eminently  skilled  in  the 
knowledge  of  practical  composition,  flourished  towards  the 
end  of  queen  Elizabeth's  reign.  He  was  of  Welch  extrac- 
tion, and  had  been  educated  under  Tallis,  upon  whose 
recommendation  it  was  that  in  1589  he  was  sworn  in  gen- 
tleman extraordinary  of  the  chapel ;  from  whence  he  was 
expelled  in  1637,  it  being  discovered  that  he  adhered  to 
the  Romish  communion.  He  was  also  organist  of  Bristol 
cathedral,  but  forfeited  that  employment  at  the  same  time 
with  his  place  in  the  chapel.  Child,  afterwards  doctor, 
was  his  scholar.  He  has  composed  sundry  services,  and 
a  .few  anthems.  Before  Bevin's  time  the  precepts  for  the 
composition  of  canons  was  known  to  few.  Tallis,  Bird, 
Waterhouse,  and  Farmer,  were  eminently  skilled  in  thia 
most  abstruse  part  of  musical  practice*  Every  canon^  as 
given  to  the  public,  was  a  kind  of  enigma.     Compositiona 

«  Biog.  Unir.— Haller  BiM.  Med.^Maog«t  Bibl,  Script.  Med.— Mvreri.-^ 
Foppea  BibL  Belg. — Saxii  Onomast, 


*06  B  E  V  I  N. 

t)f  this  kind  were  sometimes  exhibited  in  the  form  of  a 
cross^  sometimes  in  that  of  a  circle  ;  there  is  now  extant 
one  resembling  a  horizontal  sun-dial,  and  the  resolution, 
{as  it  was  called)  of  a  canon,  which  was  the  resolving  it 
into  its  elements,  and  reducing  it  into  scorfe,  was  deemed 
a  work  of  almost  as  great  difficulty  as  the  original  compo- 
sition. But  Bevin,  with  a  view  to  Ae  improvement  of 
students,  generously  communicated  the  result  of  many 
years  study  and  experience  in  a  treatise  which  is  highly 
commended  by  all  who  have  taken  occasion  to  speak  of  it. 
This  book  was  published  in  1631,  4to,  and  dedicated  to 
Goodman  bishop  of  Gloucester,  with  the  following  title  t 
**  A  briefe  and  short  instruction  of  the  Art  of  Musicke,  to 
teach  how  to  make  discant  of  all  proportions  that  are  in 
use ;  very  necessary  for  all  such  as  are  desirous  to  attain 
to  knowledge  in  the  art ;  and  may,  by  practice,  if  they 
sing,  soone  be  able  to  compose  three,  four,  and  five  parts, 
and  also  to  compose  all  sorts  of  canons  that  are  usual],  by 
these  directions  of  two  or  three  parts  in  one  upon  the  plain 
song."  The  rules  contained  in  this  book  for  composition 
in  general  are  very  brief  ;^  but  for  the  composition  of  ca- 
nons there  are  in  it  a  great  variety  of  examples  of  almost 
all  the  possible  forms  in  which  it  is  capable  of  being  con- 
$(tructed,  even  to  the  extent  of  sixty  parts.  * 

BEUF.     SeeLEfeEUF. 

BEUGHEM  (Cornelius  de),  whose  name  often  occurs 
)n  works  of  Bibliography,  but  who  has  not  laid  bibliogra- 
phers under  many  obligations,  was  a  bookseller  at  Em- 
merich, about  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Hin 
design  in  his  compilations  was  evidently  to  serve  the  cause 
of  literature,  but  although 'Sill  his  plans  weregood,  they  were 
imperfectly  executed,  and  have  proved  perplexing  and 
useless.  His  principal  publications  in  this  department 
were:  1.  "  Bibliographiajuridicaetpolitica,'*  Amsterdam, 
1680,  12mo.  2.  "  Bibliothecamedica  etphysica,"  1691, 
12mo,  enlarged  in  1696.  3.  "  Gallia  critica  et  experi- 
mentalis  ab  anno  1665  usque  ad  1681,*'  Amst.  1683,  12mo. 
This  is  a  useful  index  to  the  articles  in  the  **  Journal  des 
.Savans."  4.  "  Bibliographia  mathematica  et  artificio'fei," 
1685,  improved  and  enlarged,  1688, 12mo.  5.  "Bibliogra- 
phia historica,  chronologica,  et  geographica,'*  1685,  12nio, 
and  continued  in  four  parts  until  1710.     6.  "  Bibliographia 

\  1  Hawkins's  Higt  of  Music. 


B  £  U  G  H  E  M.  iot 

erodltoirum  critico-curiosay  seu  apparatus  ad  historiam 
literariam,"  Amst  1689 — 1701,  5  vols.  12mo,  a  sort  of 
general  index  to  all  the  literary  journals,  but  containing 
too  many  alphabets  to  be  easily  consulted.  It  extends 
from  1665  to  170Q.  7.  "  Incunabula  typographiae,  sive 
Catalogus  librorum  proximis  ab  inventione  typographise 
annis  ad  annum  1500,  editorum,"  Amst.  1688,  12mo» 
jejune,  says  our  English  bibliographer,  and  erroneous.  In- 
deed each  of  these  undertakings,  to  be  completely  useful^ 
would  have  required  more  years  than  Beughem  bestowed 
upon  the  whole.  * 

BEULANIUS,  a  divine  and  historian  in  the  seventh 
century;  was  a  Briton  by  birth,  who  taught  the  celebrated 
Nennius,  afterwards  abbot  of  the  monastery  of  Bangor ; 
and  applied  himself  from  his  earliest  youth  to  th^  study 
of  learning,  which  he  joined  to  the  greatest  purity  of 
morals.  Bale  tells  us,  that  he  was  master  of  a  very  exten- 
sive knowledge  of  things,  and  a  great  fluency  of  style, 
and  was  actuated  by  a  warm  zeal  for  the  propagation  of 
truth.  He  had  a  son,  the  subject  of  the  following  article ; 
which  is  a  proof,  as  the  historian  above-mentioned  ob- 
serves, that  the  priests  in  Britain  were  not  at  that  time 
prohibited  to  marry ;  though  Pits  is  of  opinion  that  our 
author  was  not  ordained  when  his  son  was  born.  He  was 
extremely  industrious  in  examining  into  the  antiquities  of 
nations,  and  tracing  out  the  families  of  the  English  Saxons 
after  they  had  entered  Britain  ;  and  from  these  collections 
he  is  said  to  have  written  a  work  *'  De  Genealogiis  Gen- 
tium." He  flourished  in  the  year  600.  Bishop  Nicolson 
in  his  "  English  Historical  Library'*  calls  him  Beulani^s, 
and  confounds  him  with  his  son.  * 

BEULANIUS  (Samuel),  a  learned  divine  and  historian 
of  the  seventh  century,  was  son  of  the  preceding,  and 
born  in  Northumberland,  but  educated  almost  from  his 
infancy  in  the  isle  of  Wight.  He  was  a  man  of  a  very  hu- 
mane and  mild  disposition,  a  good  historian,  and  well 
skilled  in  geometry.  He  gave  an  acqurate  description  of 
the  isle  of  Wight  from  his  own  observations,  as  well  as 
from  the  accounts  of  Ptolemy  and  Pliny.  Upon  his  return 
to  his  awu  country  he  studied  under  Elbode,  a  bishop 
eminent  for  his  uncommon  sanctity  and  learning,  by  whose 

*  Biog.  Univ. — Moreri. — Baillet  Jugemens  de  Sayans.— Saxii  Ononvi8t.— • 
Bibdin's  Biblromania. 

«  Tanoer.— L(eland.^Bale.-«>PiU.— Gen.  Diet 


aO«  B  E  U  L  A  N  I  US. 

instructions  he  made  great  progress  both  in  pro&ne  ami 
sacred  literature.  At  last  he  applied  himself  to  the  study 
of  the  history  of  his  nation,  which  he  examined  with  the 
iitmost  accuracy,  and  wrote  in  Latin  "  Annotations  upon 
Nennius,"  an  *'  History  of  the  actions  of  king  Arthur  in 
Scotland,"  and  an  "  Historical  Itinerary."  L^land  is  of 
opinion  that  he  was  a  monk,  sjnce  all  the  learning  which 
was  then  extant,  was  among  those  of  that  profession.  He 
flourished  in  the  year  640,  according  to  Bale ;  or  656^  ac- 
cording to  Pits.  He  had  a  very  intimate  friendship  with 
the  famous  Nennius,  abbot  of  Bangor.  ^ 

BEUMLER  (Mark),  a  learned  minister  of  the  reformed 
church,  was  born  in  1555,  at  Volketswyl,  a. village  in  the 
canton  of  Zurich,  and  died  of  the  plague  at  Zurich,  in 
1611.  He  studied  at  Geneva  and  Heidelberg,  and  after 
having  exercised  the  ministerial  functions  in  Germany  for 
some  years,  returned  to  Zurich  in  1594,  where  he  was  ap- 

{)ointed  professor  of  theology.  He  published  many  theo- 
ogical,  philological,  and  philosophical  works,  which  are 
now  forgot,  but  some  of  them  were  highly  esteemed  in  his 
vday,  particularly  his  "  Grammar,"  Zurich,  1593,  and  his 
•*  Khetoric,"  ibid.  1629,  which  were  often  reprinted.  He 
also  translated  and  wrote  notes  on  some  of  Cicero's,  De- 
mosthenes, and  Plutarch's  works,  and  was  the  author  of 
a  "  Catechism"  which  was  long  the  only  one  used  at  Zu- 
rich. He  was  accounted  one  of  the  ablest  defenders  of 
Zuinglius  and  Calvin.  The  style  of  his  polemical  works 
partook  of  that  quaintness  which  prevailed  in  controversial 
writing  for  more  than  a  century  after  his  time.  The  title 
of  one  of  his  pamphlets  will  exemplify  this,  and  amuse  our 
Latin  readers :  "  Falco  emissus  ad  capiendum,  depluman- 
dum  et  dilacerandum  audaciorem  ilium  cuculum  ubiquita- 
rium,  qui  nuper  ex  Jac.  Andreae,  mali  corvi,  malo  ovo, 
ab  Holderp  simplicissima  curruca  exclusus,  et  a  demoniaco 
Bavio  Fescenio  varii  coloris  plumis  instructus,  impetum  in 
philomelas  innocentes  facere  ceperat,"  Neustadt,  15S5, 
4to.  * 

BEUTHER  (Michael),  a  learned  German  writer,  was 
born  at  Carlostadt,  Oct.  IS,  1522,  and  studied  at  Marpurg, 
and  afterwards  at  Wittemberg,  where,  being  introduced 
by  Melancthon,  to  Luther,  the  latter  received  him  into  his 
house,  and  both  superintended  his  studies.     In  1542,  wheu 

\  Tanner.— Leland, — ^Dale.— Pits.— <ilen.  Pict.  *  Bio^.  Unirenelle* 


B  E  U  T  H  E  R.  i69 

the  contest  took  place  between  John  Frederic^  the  elee« 
tor,  and  prince  Maurice,  be  served  under  the  former,  but 
the  war  being  orer,  he  returned  to  Wittemberg.  In  1546 
he  was  appointed  professor  of  history,  poetry,  and  mathe,*^ 
Biatics  at  Grieswald;  and  in  1549  he  visited  Paris,  aiid 
some  other  celebrated  academies,  studied  civil  law,  and 
published  his  ^<  Ephemeris  Historica,^^  Paris,  1550.  Iii 
1552  he  had  a  considerable  hand  in  the  treaty  of  P^ssaw^ 
by  which  the  exercise  of  the  Protestant  religion  throitgh«^ 
out  Germany  was  secured.  In  1553  we  find  him  at  Padua^* 
where,  by  Melanctbon's  advice,  he  studied  tnedicine,  and 
became  acquainted  with  the  celebrated  Fallopius ;  he'  neict 
visited  Rome,  and  some  of  the  Italian  schools,  and  at 
Ferrara  w4bUB  created  LL.D.  About  the  year  1555  he  ap« 
pears  to  have  excited  some  enemies,  on  accotint  of  bis  re-* 
ligiou$  principles;  but  in  1559,  the  elector  Palatine,  Otto 
Henry,  appointed  him  his  ecclesiastical  counsellor  and 
Ubrartan.  On  the  death,  however,  of  this  patron,  he  re- 
moved to  Oppenheim,  and  took  his  final  leave  oi  publid 
affairs.  In  1563  he  visited  the  principal  cities  and  acade« 
mies  of  Saxony,  for  the  purpose  of  itiquiting  into  their 
origin,  history,  and  antiquities,  ancl  two  years  after  was 
appointed  historical  professor  at  Strasburgh.  He  died  of 
a  decline^  Oct.  27,  1587.  He  was  accounted  a  man  of 
great  learning  in  divinity,  law,  and  physic,  and  eminently 
skilled  in  Hebrew^  Greek,  Latin,  French,  Italian,  iSpanish| 
and  English.  He  published  several  works,  among  which 
are:  1.  ^^  Animadversiones  bistoricse  et  chronographicae.'^ 
2.  <^  Opus  fastorum  antiqaitatis  Roman^,^*  Spire,  1600^ 
4to.  3.^ ''  fasti  Hebrs^rum,  Atheniensium,  et  Romano- 
rum."  *  4.  "  Animadversiohes  in  Taicili  Germaniam.^* 
5.  <<  Commentarii  in  Livium,  Sallustiuniy  Velleium  Pater- 
culum,  &c."* 

BEXON  (Gabriel-Leopoli>-Charl£&-Am£'},  a  French 
miscellaneous  -  writer,  was  bom  at  Remiremont,  in  the 
month  of  March  1 7^(8,  and  died  at  Paris,  Feb.  15,  1784« 
He  was  firat  canon,  and  afteri^atds  gtatid-ibhanteir  of  St. 
Chapelle,  at  Paris.  From  his  infancy  he  bad  a 'turn  for 
the  stildy  of  natural  history,  and  assisted  Buflbh  in  'the 
latter  Volumes  of  his  great  work  on  that  subject.  -He  pub- 
lished:   1.  <^  Systeme  de  la  I'ermeBtatian,'"    1778,   8vo. 


i. 


>  Freheri  TheatruiD.«---Bi«s.  Univ.-^Moreri.'^Melchior^Adam  iaVitii  fU* 
VOL.V.  P 


»10  BEX  ON. 

Z.  ^'  Catechisme  d' Agriculture,  ou  fiibliotheque  des  gen^ 
de  la  campi^oe/'  1773,  12010..  3.  'S  Oraison  funebre 
d^Anne  Charlotte  de  Lorraine,  abbesse  de  Reiniremont,'' 
1773,  4to.  4.  ^^  Histoire  de  Lorraine,^^  1777,  8 vo,  a  work 
to  which  he  is  said  to  have  been  indebted  for  bis  eeclesias* 
tical  promotions.  One  yolume  only  appeared,  giving  an 
|ix;count  of  the  earliest  state  of  Lorraine,  its  antiquities^ 
&c.  with  its  literary  history,  and  the  lives  of  the  eminent 
men  that  add  a  lustre  to  its  annals.  He  wrote  also,  ^^  Ob* 
•ervation  particuliere  sur  le  Myriade,''  and  *^  Materiaux 
pour  rhistoire  naturelle  des  Salines  de  Lorraine,"  both, 
wbigh  were  printed  in  Neufchateau's  ^*  Conservateur,'* 
▼ol.  U.  In  the  same  collection,  are  twenty *five  letters 
from  Buffbn  to  the  abb6  Bexon. .  It  remains  to  be  noticed, 
that  as  he  called  hin^self  in  his  first  publioatioa  Scipia 
Bexon,  by  way  of  concealment,  some  biographers  have 
supposed  that  to  be  his  real  name.  *  . 

.  BEYER,  or  BEIER  (Augustus),  a  German  Protestant 
minister,  was  bom  May  21,  1707,  and  died  in  1741.  He 
is  principally,  known  by  the  following  bibliographical  pub- 
lications :  1.  ^^  Epistola  de  Bibliothecis  Dresdensibus,  tunoi 
pablicis  turn,  privatis,'^  Dresden,  1731,  4to.  2.  ^\  Ber- 
nardi  Monetae  (La  Monnoye)  epistola  hactenqs  ineditse  ad 
Michaelem  Maittarium,^^  Dresden  and  Leipsic,  1732,^  8vo» 
This  he  discovered  in  the  Schoemberg  museum.  .  3.  ^^  Me* 
inori»  historico-criticsB  librorum  rariorum.,"  ibid.  1734,  8vo. 
4.  *'  Arcaaa  sacra  bibliothecarum  Dresdensium^^'  Dresden^ 
1738,  8vo,  to  which  he  published  two  appendices  in  173S 
and  1740,  8vo.  * 

.  BEYER  (GEoaGE),  another  bibliographer,  alid  a  law 
yer,  was  born  at  Leipsic  in  166^,  and  died  in  17 14.  He 
was  the  first,  accprding  to  Camus,  who  gave  a  course  of 
lectures  on  legal  bibliography,  at  Wittemberg,  in  1693. 
This  produced,  1.  ^^  IS  otitis  auotorum  jundicorum  et  juris 
arti  inservientium,  tria  specimina,^'  Leipsic,  .1.698t— 1 705^ 
i8vo.  Of  this  a  new  and  enlarged  edition  wai^.  published  in 
1726,  8vo,.  and  Jeaichen  added  a  continuation  in  1738« 
Four  other  improved  editioni^,  one  by  HommeU^s,  in  1749, 
4wp  in  )7jfQ,  and  a  fourth  by  Frank,  in  1758,, aU  m  8¥o^ 
shew;the  yahie  in.  which,  this  work  was  held.  .2.  f'  De- 
elinatio  juris  divipi  natural^  et  pqsitiyi  universalis,^:  Wit* 
temberg,   1712,  4to;  Leipsic,  1716,   1726,  4to.* 


»  Biog.  Universelle. — Biog.  Diet.-— "Month.  Rev.  Yol.  LVI. 
s  Biog.  UmveneUe.  — Saxii  OnouiMticoB*  * 


IbidL 


BEYERtlNCK.  2tl 

'  BEYERLINCK  (LAiiREif oe),  a  voluminous  author^  was 
born  April  1576^  at  Antwerp,  of  a  family  originally  ef^ 
B6rgen*op^Zooin,  and  bad  his  education >  among  the  Je- 
suits; He  went  afterwards  to  study  philosophy  at  Lottvain^ 
and  bad  scarcely  assumed  the  ecclesiastic  dress  in  order  to 
pursue^  his  divinity  course  in  that  university,  when  he  was: 
appointed  professor  of  poetry  and  rhetoric  in  the  .college 
of  Vaulx^  He  had,  some  time  after^  a  liviiiig  near  Lou-- 
vain,  and  taught  philosophy  in  a  house  of  regular  canons* 
in  the  same  neighbourhood.  In  1605  be  was  called  to 
Antwerp,  where  he  had  the  charge  of  the  school,  and. some, 
promotion  in  the  churchi  He  died  there  June?,  1627* 
Foppen  has  given  a  long  list  of  his  works,  the  principal  oti 
wluch  seem  to  be  :  1«  ^^  Apophthegnxata  Christianorum,'* 
Antwerp,  1608^  8vo.  2.  ^^  Biblia  sacra  variarum  trans-* 
lationum,"  Antwetp^  1616,  3  vols.  fol.  3.  ^'  Promptua- 
arium  morale  super  evaogelia  communia,  et  particularia 
quasdam  festorum  totius  anni,^-  1613,  8vo,  and  often  re- 
printed. 4.  •^  Magnum  Theatrum  vit»  humanse."  Be-, 
ferring  our  rellders  to  Freytag  for  a  more  minute  account 
of  this  vast  compilation,  it  may  be  suIEcient  to  add,  that 
Conrad  Lycosthenes  left  the  materials  for  it,  and  Theodore 
Swinger  or  Zwinger  having  put  them  in  order  with  some 
additions  with  which  bis  course  of  ifeading  had  furnished 
him,  published  three  editions  of  them ;  the  first  in  1  voL 
fol.  1565,  the  second  in  3  vols.  fol.  1571^  and  .the  third  ia 
4  vols.  fol.  all  at  Basil,  1586.  James  Swinger  went  on 
improving  and  adding  to  this  work,  which  was  at^ast  takenr 
lip  by  Beyerlinck,  whose  edition  appeared  after  hts  deaths 
Cologne,  163 1,  enlarged  to  8  vols,  fj^lio;  and  it  was  re- 
printed in  the  same  form  at  Lyons,  1678,  and  at  Venice, 
1707.  It  is  a  mass,  of  theology,  history,  politics,  phUo-» 
sophy,  &c.  in  alphabetical  order,  containing  all  the  know- 
ledge of  the  times  upon  the  various,  subjects,  and  we  may 
add,  all  the  ignorance  and  superstitions.  V 

BEYMA  (Juuus),  an  eminent  lawyer.  Was  born  at 
Dockum  in  Holland,  in  .1546,  or  according  to  Foppen, 
in  1539.  .  After  having  studied  law,  and  taken  a  licentiate's 
degree  at  Orleans,  be  practised  at  Leuwarden,  in  Fr^es- 
land,  until^  being  suspected  of  Lutberanism,  he  Was  ^bilged 
to  retire  into  Germany,  where  he  taught  law  at  Wittem- 
berg,  for  ten  years.    The  times  becoming  more  £AVour-« 

.  ^  Biog,  taiv.-*Fappen  BM.  Belff^^Fraytat  Adpai»tu»  JUtkr.— 14oitri  ia 
BeierliBck..  .>      v 

P  2 


tit  BEY  MA. 

able,  he  returned,  to  his  own  country,  jAqd  obtained  ibe 
law  chair  in  the  university  of  Leyden.  After  having' 
taught  here  with  great  success  for  fifteen  years^  he  was^ 
in  1596,  invited  to  Franeker,  in  the  same  office,  but  after 
a  year,  he  quitted  the  business  of  public  instruction,  beings 
appointed  a  counsellor  at  the  court  of  Friesland.  He  died 
in  1598,  leaving  a  daughter,  and  two  sons,  who  were  both 
educated  in  their  father's  profession.  He  wrote  several 
dissertations  on  subjects  of  law,  which  were  published  in 
i  vol.  4to,  at  Louvain,  1645.  In  1598,  the  year  of  his  death, 
a  collection  of  theses  maintained  by  Beyma  and  his  friend 
Schotanus,  appeared  under  the  title  ^^Disputationes  juridical, 
ttociata  cum  coUega  H.  Schotano  opera,  editae,''  Franeker. ' 

BEYS  (Charles),  a  French  poet,  was  born  at  Paris  in 
1610,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  had  written  a  number  of 
poetical  pieces,  both  in  French  and  LAtin,  which  were 
extravagantly  praised  by  Scarron  and  CoUetet,  but  are 
BOW  in  request  only  by  the  collectors  -  of  curiosities.  He 
applied  himself  very  litde  to  study,  passing  {the  principal 
part  of  his  time  in  the  pleasures  of  convivial  society,  which^ 
however,  did  not  hinder  him  from  meddling  with  publio 
affairs,  for  which  he  was  thrown  into  the  Bastille,  as  the 
author  of  the  ^^  Mitiade,'*  a  satire  against  cardinal  Riche« 
lieu.  Having  proved  his-  innocence,  he  was  set  at  liberty, 
and  resumed  his  loose  life,  which  impaired  his  health,  and 
deprived  him  of  sight,  in  which  condition  he  died. Sept.  26, 
1659.  He  wrote  some  dramas,  and  his  poetical  works 
were  printed  at  Paris,  1631,  8vo.' 

BEYS  (GiL£S),  a  celebrated  printer  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  who  was  the  first  after  those  who  printed  the 
works  of  Ramus,  that  made  a  distinction  in  his  printing 
between  the  consonants  j  and  v,  and  the  vowels  i  and  u. 
Ramus  was  the  inventor  of  this  distipction,  and  employed 
it  in  his  Latin  grammar  of  1557,  but  we  do  not  find  it 
in  any  of  his  works  printed  after  that  time.  Beys  adopted 
it  first  in  Claude  Mignaut^s  Latin  commentary  on  Horace. 
He  died  at  Paris  April  19,  1593.  He  married  a  daughter 
of  the  celebrated  Plantin  of  Antwerp,  by  whom  he  had  a 
•on,  who  was  probably  the  poet  above-mentioned,  as  the 
following  burlesque  epitaph  was  written  on  him : 

'*  G  git  Beyi,  qui  savoit  ^  merveille 
Faire  des  ver|«  et  yuider  la  bouteiUe.*'* 

t  Bi«f«  Uaiv«iseU«.--*FKli«riTlMfttnnL--»Aliiia  <t  lUuikiw  And.  Leitei^^ 
p.  S7«  s  MorBri«<*Bios*  Uairenelle.  *  Ibid. 


B  E  Z  A.  Hi 

I 
/ 

BEZA  (Theodore),  one  of  the  chief  promoters  of  ili# 
Reformation,  was  born  at  Vezelai,  a  small  town  of  Niver* 
Dais,  in  France, .  June  £4^  1519.  His  father  was  Peter 
Beza,  or  de  Beze,  bailiff  of  the  town,  and  bis  mother 
Mary  de  Bourdelot.  He  passed  his  first  years  at  Paris, 
with  his  uncle  Nicholas,  a  counsellor  of  parliament,  who 
sent  him  to  Orleans,  /  at  the  age  of  six,  for  education. 
His  master,  Melchior  Wolmar,  a  man  of  greater  learning, 
and  particularly  eminent  as  a  Greek  scholar,  and  one  of 
the  first  who  introduced  the  principles  of  the  reformation 
into  France,  having  an  invitation  to  become  professor  at 
Bourges,  Beza  accompanied  him,  and  remained  with  him 
until  153i»,  Although  at  this  period  only  sixteen,  he  had 
made  very  uncommon  progress  in  learning  and  in  the  an-* 
cient  languages,  and  having  returned  to  Orleans  to  study 
law,  he  took  his  licentiate's  degree  in  1539.  These  four 
last  years,  however,  he  applied  less  to  serious  studies  than 
to  polite  literature,  and  especially  Latin  poetry ;  and  it 
was  in  this  interval  that  he  wrote  those  pieces  which  were 
Afterwards  published  under  the  title  of  ^^  Poemata  Juve- 
nilia," and  afforded  the  enemies  of  the  reformation  a  bet* 
ter  handle  than  could  have  been  wished  to  reproach  hia 
early  morals. 

On. his  return  to  Paris  he  was  presented  to  the  priory  of 
Longjumeau,  and  another  benefice;  and  one  of  his  uncles^ 
who  possessed  a  rich  abbey,  had  an  intention  to  resign  in 
his  favour.  Beza  thus  enjoying  an  ample  revenue,  with 
the  prospect  of  an  easy  increase,  joined  too  freely  in  the 
amusements  and  dissipations  of  youth,  notwithstanding 
the  remonstrances  of  his  parents  and  friends :  and  although 
in  the  actual  possession  of  benefices,  had  not  yet  taken 
orders,  nor  for  some  years  did  he  associate  with  persons 
of  the  reformed  religion,  although  he  could  hot  forget  the 
progress  that  it  had  made  in  his  mind  when  under  the 
tuition  of  Wolmar.  Here  he  contracted  an  attachment  to 
a  young  woman,  who,  some  say,  ^as  of  a  noble  family^ 
others,  of  inferior  birth,  to  whom  he  secretly  promised 
marriage,  but  was  prevented  from  accomplishing  this, 
through  fear  of  losing  his  promotions.  At  length,  how- 
ever, in  1548,  when  recovering  from  a  severe  illness,  he 
resigned  his  priory,  and  went  to  Geneva,  and  married  fhe 
lady  to  whom  he  bad  now  been  engaged  about  four  years* 
At  the  same  time  he  abjured  popery^  and  after  a  ibort  stay 


S14  B  E  Z  A. 

at  Geneva,  -went  to  TabicigeD,  to  his  old  master^  Wolmafj^ 
for  whom  he  always  had  the  sincerest  esteem. , 

The  following  year  he  was  appointed  Greek  professor  at 
Lausanne,  where  he  remained  for  ten  years,  and  published 
several  works  which  extended  his  reputation.  His  Fi-ench 
tragedy  of  *^  Abraham's  SacriEce,''  was  translated  into 
Latin,  and  Uiecame  very  popular.  In  1556,  he  published 
}iis  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  of  which  a  number 
of  editions  afterwards  appeared,  with  alterations  and  cor- 
rections ; .  but,  of  all  his  works,  while  he  was  at  Lausanne^ 
that  which  was  accounted  the  most  remarkable,  was  his 
apology  for,  or  defence  of  the  burning  of  Servetus  for  he* 
resy,  in  answer  to  a  work  apparently  on  the  other  side  of 
the  question  by  Sebastiait  Castalio,  who  took  the  liberty  to 
doubt  whether  it  was  just  or  useful  to  put  heretics  to  death/ 
Be:;a's  answer  was  entitled  S^  De  hssretici^  a  civili  magts- 
tratu  puniendis,''  and  as  at  that  time  th^principles  of  the 
reformation  were  legal  heresies,  we  cannot  be  surprised 
that  the  enemies  of  the  reformation  should  wish  to  turn 
Beza's  arguments  against  him. 

In  1558,  Beza  endeavoured  to  induce  some  of  the  Ger*' 
man  princes  to  intercede  with  the  king. of  France  for  to* 
leration  of  the  Protestants,  who  were  then  very  cruelly* 
perseciited  in  th^t  kingdom.  Next  year  he  left  Lausanne 
to  settle  at  Geneva,  where  he  was  admitted  a  citizen,  at 
the  request  of  Calvin.  In  Geneva  dX  this  time,  much 
pains  were  taken  to  promote  learning,  and  diffuse  a  taste 
for  the  sciences,  and  an  academy  being  about  to  be  formed, 
Calvin  refused  the  title  of .  rector,  offei:ed  to  himself,  and 
recommended  it  to  be  given .  to  Beza,  who  was  also  to 
teach  divinity.  About  Hie  sam^  time,  the  persons  of  rank 
in  Fi:ance  who  had  embraced  the  reformed  religion,  per- 
ceiving that  they  would  need  >  the  support  of  a  crowned 
head,  cast  their  eyes  on  Beza,  as  the  proper  person  to  con- 
vert the  king  of  Navarre,  and  confer  with  him  on  other 
matters  of  consequence  respecting  the  reformation.  In 
this  Beza  had  complete  success,,  and  the  reformed  religion 
Vjras  publicly  preached  at  Nerac,  the  residence  of  the 
king  and  queen  of  Navarre.  A  church  wa^s  built,  and  in  the 
course  of  the  following  year,  1560,  such  was  the  zeal  of 
t:he  queen  of  Navarre,  that  she  ordered  all  the  cbur^hes^ 
f^nd  monasteries  of  Nerac  to  be  destroyed- 


B  E  Z  A.  «l5 

Beza  remained  at  Nerac  until  the  beginning  of  1561, 
when  the  king  signified  bis  pleasure  that  be  should  attend 
at  the  conference  of  Poissi,  to  which  the  senate  readily 
consented.  At  this  conference,  appointed  for  reconciling 
the  disputes  between  the  Popish  and  Protestant  divines, 
the  princes,  cardinals,  and  many  of  the  nobility  attended, 
and  the  king  presided.  It  was  opened  Sept.  9,  156  J,  by 
the  ct^ncellor  DeP  Hospital,  who  declared  tlllit  the  king's 
intention  in  assembling  them  was  to  discover,  from  their 
sentiments,  a  remedy  for  the  disorders  which  religious  dis* 
putes  had  occasioned  in  his  kingdom;  that  they  should 
therefore  endeavour  to  correct  such  things  as  required  itj 
and  not  separate  until  they  had  put  an  end  to  all  differ* 
ences  by  a  sincere  reconciliation.  In  his  speech  he  also 
honoured  this  conference  with  the  name  of  the  National 
Council,  and  compared  it  to  the  provincial  synods  of  Or- 
leans, Aries,  and  Aix,  which  the  emperor  Charlemagne 
had  caused  to  bejield.  The  conference  lasted  two  nionths, 
and  many  points  were  eagerly .  debated.  The  Protestai>t 
clergy,  and  particularly  Beza,  spoke  with  great  freedom. 
Beza,  to  much  learning,  added  a^Mulity  of  expression  which 
gave  him  much  advantage;  he  had  abo  from  his  earliest 
years  a  ready  wit,  which  in  those  years  he  had  employed 
on  subjects  perhaps  not  unsuitable  to4t,  and  could  ndt 
afterwards  restrain  in  controversy  on  more  serious  points, 
nor  could  he  repress  the  zeal  and  fervour  of  his  mind  when 
he  bad  to  contend  for  the  reformed  religion.  In  this 
conference  some  strong  expressions  he  used  respecting' 
the  eucharist,  and  against  transubstantiation,  occasioned 
an  unusual  clamour,  and  a  cry  of  blasphemy !  from  the 
adherents  to  that  opinion.  It  is,  perhaps,  unnecessary  to 
add,  that  the  purposes  of  all  these  debates  were  not  ac« 
eomplisbed. 

Beza  did  not  return  to  Geneva  when  the  conference 
ended*:  being  a  Frenchman^  queen  Catherine  de^Medicis 
would  have  him  stay  in  his  own  country,  .where  he  preached 
frequently  before  the  king  of  Navarre,  and  the  prince  of 
Conde,  in  Paris.  The  king  of  Navarre,  though  of  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Protestants,  declared  himself  against  them, 
in  iorder  to  preserve  the  title  of  viceroy  ;  but  the  prince  of 
Ccuide^  the  illustrious  family  of  Coligny,  and  others^  more 
zes^ous  for  the  reformation,  began  to  excite  the  Pro- 
testants .  to  arm  in  their  defence.  Opposed  to  this  party^' 
was  a  league  formed  by  the  pope,  the  emperor,  the  kiug^ 


416  H  E  Z  A. 

of  Spain,  and  th^  catholic  Swiss  cantons.  This  s09h 
li>rought  on  the  civil  war,  in  the  course  of  which  Beza  at^ 
tended  the  prince  of  Conde,  apd  was  at  the  battle  of  Dreux^^ 
in  1562,  in  which  the  generals  of  both  armies  were  taken 
prisoners  ;  and  during  the  imprisonment  of  the  prince  of 
Conde,  Beza  remained  with  admiral  Coligny,  and  did  not 
return  to  Geneva,  until  after  the  peace  of  1563,  when  he 
resun^ed  his  place  in  the  academy  or  college  which  Calvin 
had  founded.  That  celebrated  reformer  died  in  the  follow* 
ing  year,  and  Beza  succeeded  him  in  all  bis  offices,  and 
was  now  considered  as  the  ostensible  head  and  main  sup-- 
port  of  the  reformed  party  both  in  France  and  G^eneva.  In 
1570  he  returned  again  to  France  to  be  present  at  the  synod 
of  Rocbelle'l  The  queen  of  Navarre  and  the  admiral 
Coligny  had  requested  the  council  of  Geneva  to  permit 
bim  to  take  this  journey,  and  when  he  arrived  at  Rochelle 
be  was  unanimously  chosen  president  of  the  synod,  which 
V^s  a  kind  of  general  assembly  of  deputies  from  all  the  re- 
formed churches  in  France.  He  was  afterwards  frequently 
interrupted  in  his  academical  business  at  Geneva,  particu-^ 
larly  in  1574,  when  sent  on  ail  important  negociation  ta 
Germany^  and  he  frequently  assisted  at  conferences  on  re* 
ligious  points  both  in  Germany  and  Swisserland. 

In  1583  bis  wife  died,  and  although  now  seventy  years 
old,  he  married,  a  few  months  after,  a  young  woman  whom 
be  called  his  Sbunamite.  His  health  and  spirits  were  won** 
derfuUy  preserved  for  many  years  after  this,  nor  did  he 
discontinue  his  lectures  until  1600.  He  lived  five  years 
after  this,  considerably  weakened,  by  age  and  infirmities^ 
retaining  the  memory  of  things  long  pas^  but  almost  totally 
deprived  of  that  faculty  in  continuing  a  conversation.  At 
intervals,  however,  he  evinced  his  steady  adherence  to  the 
religion  to  which  he  said  he  had  been  early  called,  lamented 
the  years  he  had  passed  in  folly  and  dissipation,  and  gave 
many  suitable  and  affecting  exhortations  to  his  friends^ 
He  died  Oct.  13,  1605,  in  the  eighty-seventh  year  of  his 
age- 

Theodore  Beza*s  character  has  been  variously  -repre^ 
tented,  as  might  be  expected  from  the  age  in  which  he 
lived,  and  the  conduct  which  he  pursued.  His  talents,  his 
eminence,  his  important  services  in  the  cause  of  the  re- 
formation, must  make  his  memory  as  dear  to  Protestants,  as 
it  was  obnoxious  to  their  enemies.  In  what  follows,  how^ 
m^er,  of  hb^  chafact^,  v^e  ^all  chiefly  follow  an  audiority 


•B  E  Z  A.  tlT 

that  wkU  not  be  fiospected  of  religious  partiality  at  least 
Beza*s  reputation  has  been  often  attacked,  and  it  is  scarcely 
possible  that  it  could  have  been  otherwise.     He  had  but 
just  embraced  the  reformed  religion,  when  he  took  a  part 
in  every  dispute  and  every  controversy.     He  wrote  inces- 
santly against  the  Roman  catholics,  against  the  Lutherans, 
and  against  all  who  were  unfriendly  to  the  character  or 
opinions  of  his  friend  Calvin,  and  although  such  a  disputant 
would  be  in  any  age  exposed  to  frequent  attacks,  in  his 
time  religious  controversies  were  carried  on  with  peculiar 
harshness  and  strong  resentments.     Beza's  first  writings, 
his  poems,  gave  occasion  for  just  reproach,  and  although  he 
had  long  repented,  and  confessed  his  error  in  this  respect, 
bis  enemies  took  the  most  effectual  method  to  harass  his 
mind,  and  injure  his  character,  by  frequently  reprinting 
these  poems.     This  measure,  however,  so  unfair,  and  dis- 
creditable to  bis  opponents,  might  have  lost  its  effect,  if 
he  jiad  not  in  some  of  his  controversial  pieces,  employed 
his  wit  with  too  much  freedom  and  extravagance.     We 
cannot  wonder,  therefore,  that  such  raillery  should  produce 
a  corresponding  sense  of  irritation  in  those  who  hated  his 
principles,  and  felt  the  weight  of  his  talents.     It  would  be 
unnecessary  to  repeat  all  the  calumnies,  some  of  the  most 
gross  kind,  which  have  been  gravely  advanced  against  him, 
because  they  now  seem  to  be  given  up  by  the  general  con- 
sent of  all  modern  writers ;  but  we  may  advert  to  one  accu- 
sation still  maintained  by  men  of  considerable  note.     Pol- 
trot,   who  assassinated. the  duke  of  Guise,  that  merciless 
persecutor  of  the  proteftantis,  declared  in  his  first  examina- 
tion that  he  was  set  on  by  Beza,  and  although  this  appeared 
at  the  time  wholly  groundless,  and  Poltrot  retracted  what 
he  had  said,  and  persisted  to  his  last  moments,  to  excul- 
pate our  reformer,  yet  Bossuet,  while  he  does  not  accuse 
Beza  of  having  directly  encouraged  the  assassin,  still  en<* 
deavours  to  impute  his  crime  to  Beza's  preaching,  and  de-« 
4uce8  Beza's  amsentj  from  the  joy  he  and  his  party  ex- 
pressed on  hearing  of  the  death  of  their  iknplacable  enemy, 
a  consequence  which  it  is  surely  unfair  to  draw  from  such 
premises.     He  has  also  been  accused  of  having,  on  many 
occasions,  excited  the  French  protestants  to  take  lip  arms, 
and  to  have  thus  had  a  considerable  hand  in  the  civil  wars 
of  France.    But,  although  the  oppressions  suffered  by  the 
French  protestants,  then  a  very  numerous  body,  had  un- 
qnestionably  excited  his  zeal  in  promoting  resistance,  the 


«1*  B  E  Z  A. 

history  of  the  times  shew  that  these  civil  wars  were  not  oc-^ 
casioned  by  this  course  only,  far  less  by  any  desire  0ie 
reformed  bad  to  propagate  their  principles  by  force.  The 
ablest  writers  are  agreed  that  in  those  days  there  was  more 
of  discontent  than  protestantism  in  the  case;  **  plus  de  mal- 
contentement  que  de  Huguenoterie.'*  It  wocrld  be  unjust; 
therefore,  to  consider  Beza,  and  the  other  preachers  of  the 
reformation,  as  the  sole  cause  of  these  commotiotYs.  It  is 
much  more  probable  that  they  were  occasioned  in  a  great 
measure  by  the  rival  contests  of  the  Guises  and  the  priitces 
of  the  Mood.  Without^  therefore,  exculpating  Beza  from 
itaving  that  share  in  the  civil  wars  which  did  not  very  well 
become  a  preacher  of  the  gospel  of  peace,  it  may  be  safely 
Affirmed  that  be  was  not  one  of  the  chief  causes.  The 
some  assassin  Poltrot,  who  accused  Beza,  accused  also  the 
admiral  Coligny,  whose  character  never  was  stained  with  a 
blemish,  unless  in  the  bigoted  mind  of  Bossuet,  who  yet 
cannot  bring  a  single  circumstance  in  proof;  and  as  far  as 
regards  Beza,  we  may  add  that  the  accusation  never  ob- 
tained any  belief  among  his  contemporaries. 

Beaa^s  zeal  was  much  tempered  in  his  latter  days ;  and 
when,  during  an  in^terview  with  Henry  IV.  in  1599,  in  a 
village  of  Savoy  near  Geneva,  that  prince  asked  him  what 
be  could  do  for  him,  Beza  expressed  no  wish  but  to  see 
peace  restored  in  France.  His  last  will  bears  tbe  same 
sentiments,  with  much  expression  of  regret  for  his  early 
errors. — Beza  was  an  elegant  writer,  and  a  man  of  great 
learning.  His*  long  life,  and  the  enthusiasm  with  which  he 
inspired  his  followers,  made  him  Be  called  the  Phenix  of 
bis  age.  As  a  divine,  controversialist,  and  on  many  occa- 
aions,  as  a  negociator,  he  displayed  great  abilities,  and  a 
faithful  adherence  to  his  principles.  His  numerous  writ- 
ings are  now  perhaps  but  little  consulted,  and  bis  transla- 
tion of  the  Psalms  into  French  verse,  which  was  begun  by 
Marot,  are  no  longer  in  use  in  the  reformed  churches ;  but 
as  a  promoter  of  literature,  he  still  deserves  high  praise, 
on  account  of  the  great  diligence  and  success  with  which 
be  superintended  tbe  college  of  Geneva  for  forty  years  of 
bis  life.  When  on  one  occasion  the  misfortunes  of  tbe 
times  rendered  it  necessary  to  dismiss  two  of  the  professors^- 
for  whose  maintenance  there  were  no  longer  any  fundsy 
Beza,  *  then  at  the  age  of  seventy,  supplied  both  their 
places,  and  gave  le(;tures  for  more  than  two  years.  He  was 
in  fact  the  founder  of  that  college  which  for  the  last  two» 


B  E  Z  A.  2\^ 

centuries  has  produced  so  many  eminent  men ;  he  pre- 
scribed its  statutes,  and  left  his  successors  an  example  which 
may  bcssaid  to  have  de^scended  to  our  own  times*  Bayle^s 
account  of  Beza,  in  his  usual  rambling  style,  is  principally 
taken  from  the  Latin  life  published  in  1606  by  Antonius 
Fayus,  or  La  Faye.  Noel  Taillepied,  Bolsec,  and  a  doc- 
tor of  the  Sorbonne,  named  Laing6,  or  Laingeus,  have 
also  written  lives  of  this  reformer.  Other  authorities  will 
be  subjoined  in  the  note. 

Some  notice  yet  remains  to  be  taken  of  Beza^s  principal 
works,  and  their  different  editions :  1.  *^Poemata  juvenilia,** 
Paris,  by  Conrad  Badius,  1548,  8vo,  but  we  question  whe- 
ther this  was  the  first  edition.  It  is  thought  that  a  12mo 
edition,  without  a  date,  '^  Ad  insigne  capitis  mortui,'*  was 
long  prior  to  this,  and  we  suspect  the  only  edition  which' 
Beza  printed.  Those  of  1569,  1576,  and  1594,  the  two 
former  in  8vo,  and  the  latter  in  4to,  contain  only  a  part  of 
these  poems,  the  offensive  ones  being  omitted.  In  1599, 
an  edition  was  printed  at  Geneva,  16 mo,  with  his  trans- 
lation of  the  Song  of  Solomon,  They  were  also  reprinted 
with  the  poems  of  Muret  and  Jean  Second,  Paris,  by  Bar- 
.bou,  1757,  12mo,  and  under  the  title  of  ^^  Amcenitatefs 
Poeticae/'  &c.  1779,  12mo.  2.  "  Tragedie  Frangaise  da 
Sacrifice  d' Abraham,*' Lausanne,  1550,  8vo,  Paris,  1553, 
and  Middleburgh,  1701,  8vo,  and  often  since;  yet  it  gives 
ho  very  favourable  ides^of  Beza^s  talent  for  French  poetry. 
3.  <^  Confessio  Christianas  (idei,  cum  Papisticis  haeresi- 
bus,  ex' typ.  r.  Bonae  $dei,'*  1560,  8vo.  4.  "Dehaereti- 
cis  a  civiii  magistratu  puniendis ;  sub  Oliva  Rob.  Stephani,*' 
1554.  This  is  the  original  edition,  but  Colladon*s  French 
translation;  Geneva,  1560,  8vo,  is,  for  whatever  reason,  in 
more  request.  5.  *^  Comedie  du  Pape  malade,  par  Thrasibule 
Phenice,"  Geneva,  1561,  8yo,  1584,  16mo,  6.  "Traduc- 
tion en  vers  Fran^ais  des  Pseaumes  omi^  par  Marot,** 
Lyons,  1563,  4t6,  often  reprinted  with  those  of  Marot,  for 
the  US0  pf  the  Protestant  churches.  .7.  ^'  Histoire  de  la 
Mappemonde  papistique,  par  Fragidelphe  Escorche- 
Messes,*'  Luce-N'ouvelle  (Geneva),  1567,  4to.  8.  "  Le 
Reveilmatin  des  Francois  et  de  leurs  voisin,  par  Eusebe 
Philadelphe,*'  Edinburgh,  1574,  8vo.  9.  <*  De  Jjeste 
qui^stiones  duaB  explicataB ;  una,  sitne  contagiosa?  altera, 
an- et  quatenus  sit  ,  Christian  is  per  secessionem  vitanda?'*^ 
Geneva,  1570,  8vo;  Leyden,  1636,  12mo.  This  is  one 
of  the  scarcest  of  Beza^s  works.     10.  "  Histoire  ecclesias* 


«o  B  E  Z  Ai. 

tique  des  Eglises  reform^es  an  royaume  de  France,  deptii^ 
Tan  1521  jusqu'eiK  1563,"  Antwerp  (Geneva),  1580,  S  vols. 
5vo.  11."  Icones  Virolrum  lUustrium,"  1580,  4to,  trans* 
lafted  into  French,  by  Simon  Goulet,  under  the  title  of 
**  Vrais  Pourtraits,  &c."  Geneva,  1581,  4to.  12.  "Trac- 
tatio  de  llepudiis  et  Divortiis ;  accedit  trdctatm  de  Poly- 
gamia,''  Geneva,  1590,  8vo.  13.  '^  Epistola  magistri  Pas* 
savantii  ad  Petrum  Lysetuxn,^'  a  satire  on  the  latter.  14. 
His  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  with  the  original 
texts  and  notes,  often  reprinted.  The  best  edition  is  that 
of  Cambridge,  1642,  fol.  a  work  still  in  much  estimation. 
He  had  also  a  share  in  the  Geneva  translation  of  the  Bible, 
1588,  fol.  Several  of  his  controversial  and  practical  tractii 
were  translated  into  English,  and  printed  here  in  the  time 
of  queen  Elizabeth,  of  which  the  titles  may  be  found  in 
Ames.  Among  the  Greek  MSS»  of  the  university  of  Cam* 
bridge,  is  one  of  the  Four  Gospels  and  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
presented  by  Beza,  whi«h  is  ^supposed  to  be  of  the  third  or 
fourthcenturyatleast,  if  not  more  ancient.  In  17 87,  the  uni- 
versity appointed  the  rev.  Dr.  Kipling,  deptfiy  regius  pro- 
fessor of  divinity,  to  superintend  the  publication  of  a  fac 
$imile  of  this  valuable  manuscript,  which  accordingly,  ap- 
peared in  1793,  2  vols.  foL  a  splendid  and  accurate  work. 
The  Latin  epistle  which  Beza  sent  with  this  manuscript, 
and  which  is  prefixed  to  it  in  his  own  hand-writing,  may 
be  seen  in  the  note  *.  ^ 

*  "  Indytae  modisque  omnibus  ce-  toto  nulll  ineliiif»  quam  tds  ipei>  qnij^ 

lebratissimae  ^cademiae  Cantabrigiensi  sit  huic  exemplar!  fides  faabenda,  fesu« 

Oratiam  et  Pacem  a  Deo  Patre  ae  inarent,  hac  de  re  tamen  ▼os  admo^ 

Domino  nostro  Jesu  Cbrifcto.  nendos  duxi,  taiktam  a  me  in  Lucat 

"  Quatuor  Evan^eliorurnet  Actorum  praesertim    Eyangelio   repertara   esse 

ilpostolicorum  Graeco-Latinum  exenk-  inter  hunc  codicem'et  csBteros  qnan* 

plar  ex  S.  Irenai  coenobio  Lugdiinensi  tunsTis  discrepanttam»  nt  ritaiidsB  quo* 

ante  aliquot  annos  nactus,^  mutilum  rundam  offensioni  asseiVandum  potiu* 

qnidem  iltad,  et  neque  satis  emendate  quam  publicandum  existimem.  In  bao 

ab  initio  ubiqne  descriptum,  neque  ita  tamen  non  sententiarukn  sed  TOCttm 

ut  oportuit  habitum,  sicut  ex  pa^nis  diversitate  nihil  profecto  eomperi  nnde 

quibusdam  diverso  charactere  insertis,  sbspicari  potuerim,    a  reteribus  illis 

et  indocti  cujuspiam  Gr»ci  Calogeri  haeretieis    fuisse    depravatum.      tmo 

barbaris  adscriptis  alicubi  notis  appa-  muitamihiTideordeprehendissemapi% 

ret,  Testrae  potissimum  Academie,  ut  obsenratione  digna.     Qnaodam  etiam 

inter    vere  Christianas  vetustissimB,  sie  a  recepta  Scriptara'  discrepantia» 

plvrimisque   hominibus    celeberrimae,  ut  tamen  cum  veterum  qnorundam  et 

dicandum  existimavi,  reverendi  Domini  Graecorum  et  Latinornm  Patrum  Scrip* 

et  Patres,   in  ci^us   sacrario  tantum  tis  consent! ant;  non  pauca  denique« 

hoc  Teneranda»»  nisi  forte  fallor,  vetus-  quibns  vetusta  Latfna  editio  oorrobo- 

tatis  mooimentom   collooetur.      Etsi  ratur :    quae  omnia  pro   ingenii  mei 

1  Lives  mentioned  in  the  text — Biog.  UniyerseQe,  an.  article  of  great  candont 
and  accuracy. — Gen.  Dicu-^Morerl— Two  letters  on  his  poeiiii»  Gent  Maf»    * 
▼ol.  LXVII.-— Saxii  Ongmatticon, 


B  E  Z  O  U  T. 


ait 


BEZOUT  -(Stephen),  a  celebrated  French  mathema^ 
tician,  member  of  the  academies  of  sciences  and  the  ma-^ 
rine,  and  examiner  of  the  gnards  of  the  marine  and  of  tha 
scholars  of  artillery,  was  born  at  Nemours  the  3 1st  of  March 
1730,  In  the  course  of  his  studies  he  met  with  some  books 
of  geometry,  which  gave  him  a  taste  for  that  science ;  and 
the  Eloges  of  Fontenelle,  which  shewed  him  the  honours 
attendant  on  talents  and  the  love  of  the  sciences.  His 
&ther  in  vain  opposed  the  strong  attachment  of  young  Be^ 
zout  to  the  mathematical  sciences.  April  8,  1758,  he  wa# 
named  adjoint-mechanician  in  the  French  academy  of  sci« 
ences,  having  before  that  sent  them  two  ingenious  me* 
moirs  on  the  integral  calculus,  and  given  other  proofs  of 
his  proficiency  in  the  sciences.  In  1763,  he  was  named 
to  the  new  ofBce  of  examiner  to  the  marine,  and  appointed 
to  compose  a  course  of  mathematics  for  their  use ;  and  in 
1768,  on  the  death  of  M.  Camus,  he  succeeded  as  exa* 
miner  of  the  artillery  scholars. 

Bezout  fixed  his  attention  more  particularly  to  the  reso* 
lotion  of  algebraic  equations;  and  he  first  found  out  the 
solution  of  a  particular  class  of  equations  of  all  degrees. 
This  method,  different  from  all  former  ones,  was  general 
for  the  cubic  and  biquadratic  equations,  and  just  became 
particular  only  at  those  of  the  iith  degree.  Upon  this  work 
of  finding  the  roots  of  equations,  our  author  laboured  from 
1762  tiU  1779,  when  he  published  it.  He  composed  two 
courses  of  mathematics ;  the  one  for  the  marine,  the  other 
for  the  artillery.  The  foundation  of  these  tw0  works  was 
the  same ;  the  applications  only  being  different,  according 
to  the  two  different  objects:  these  courses  have  every 
where  been  held  in  great  estimation.  In  his  office  of  ex^ 
aminer  be  discharged  the  duties  with  great  attention,  tare, 
and  tenderness;  a  trait  of  his  justice  and  zeal  is  remarkable 
in  the  following  instance :  During  an  examination  which 
be  held  at  Toulon,  he  was  told  that  two  of  the  pupils  could 


modulo  inter  se  comparata,  et  cam 
8yra  et  Arabica  editione  collata,  in 
majores  meas  aotiotationes  a  me  nu- 
per  emendatasy  et  brevi,  Deo  fayente, 
prodituras  congessi.  Sed  a{^e,  res  bsc 
tota  TeStri,  fltcuti  par  est,  judicli  esto. 
Taatom  a  Tobis  peto,  reverend!  Ik>- 
mini  et  Patref»  ut  hoc  qualecunque 
•ttmDUB  in  vestram  amplitudinem  ob- 
•ervantifle  mea  veluti  monimentum, 
ab  bpttine  Teslri  ftudlotissimo  profsc- 


tum,  sequi  bonique  consulatts.  D* 
Jesus  Servator  noster,  et  universe 
vobia  omniboB,  et  privatim  singulisy 
totique  adeo  Chrittianissimn  Anglo- 
rum  genti,  mag  is  ac  magis  pro  boni- 
tate  singula  sua  benedicat. 

<*  Oeneva  viii.  Idus    Dec'ris    anna 
Domini  cio,i3yLXxxi. 

**  Vestre  totius  inclytae  Academic 
dignitati  addictissimus 

•«  Theodorvs  iSgZA.'' 


«M  B  E  Z  O  U  T. 

not  be  present^  being  confined  by  the  small-pox :  he  hhn* 
self  had  never  had  that  disease^  and  he  was  greatly  afraid 
of  it ;  but  as  he  knew  that  if  he  did  not  see  these  two  yoong- 
meny  it  would  much  impede  their  improvement,  he  ven- 
tured  therefore  to  their  bed-sides,  to  examine  them^  and 
was  happy  to  find  them  so  deserving  of  the  bayard  he  put 
hioi^lf  into  for  their  benefit. 

Mr.  Bezout  lived  thus  several  years  beloved  of  bis  family 
and  friends,  and  respected  by  aU>  enjoying  the  fruits  and 
the  credit  of  his  labours. .   But  the  trouble  and  fatigues  of 
his  offices,  with  some  personal  chagrins,  had  reduced  hi» 
strength  and  constitution ;  he  was  attacked  by  a  malignant 
fever,  of  which  he  died  Sept.  27,  1783,  in  the  54th  year 
of  his  age,  regretted  by  his  family,  his  friends,  the  young 
students,  and  by   all  bis  acquaintance  in  general.     The 
books  published  by  him  were,  1.  '^  Course  of  Mathematics 
for  the  use  of  the  Marine,  with  a  treatise  on  Navigation," 
Paris,  1764,  6  vols.  8vo,  repauted  1781 — 2.     2.  "  Courise 
of  Mathematics  for  the  Corps  of  Artillery,"   1770 — 1772, 
4  vols.  8vo.  3.  "  General  Theory  of  Algebraic  Equations," 
1779,  4to.     His  papers  printed.in  the  volumes  of  the  Me- 
moirs of  the  academy  of  sciences  are,  1.  On  Curves  whose 
rectification  depends  on  a  given  quantity,  in  the  voL  for 
1758.      2,  On  several    classes  of  Equations  that  admit 
of  an  algebraic  solution,  1 762.     3.  First  vol.  of  a  coune  of 
Mathematics,  1764.     4.  On  certain  Equations,  &c.  1764. 
$.  General  resolution  of  all  Equations,  1765.     6..  Second 
Tol.  of  a  course  of  Mathematics,  176S.     7.  Thfrd  voL  of 
the  same,  1766.     8.  Fourth  vol.  of  the  same,  1767.     9^ 
Integration  of  Differentials,  &c,  vol.  3,  Sav.  Etr.    10.  Ex-* 
periments  on  Cold,  1777.  * 

BIACCA  (Francis  Maria),  an  Italian  scholar  of  the  last 
century,  was  born  at  Parma,  March  12,  1673.  Aftevtak* 
ing  ecclesiastical  orders,  he  was  engaged  in  1702  by  the 
illustrious  house  of  Sanvitali,  botli  as  domestic  chaplain 
and  tutor  to  the  two  young  sons  of  that  family,  and  at  his 
leisure  hours  cultivated  the  study  of  history,  chronology^ 
and  antiquities.  One  of  his  .works  was  jvritten  while  in 
this  family,  a  very  elaborate  treatise,  *'  Trattinemento 
Istorico  e  Chronologico,^*  &c.  Naples,  2  vols.  4to,  in  which 
he  endeavours  to  prove  that  Josephus*s  history  is  neither 
false  nor  contrary  to  scripture,  positions  which  had  been 

1  Hatton*8  M«tb.  Diet.— Eloge  by  Condorcet— Biog.  UnirenelTv 


B  I  AC  C  A.  S2S 

denied  in  a  treatise  written  on  the  subject  by  father  Csesar 
Calino,  a  Jesuit     When  he  had  compieted  this  i^ork,  the 
elder  of  his  pupils,  who  by  the  death  of  his  father  had  suc- 
ceeded to  the  estate,  and  was  very  much  attached  to  the 
Jesuits,  informed  Biacca  that  the  publication  of  it  would 
not  be  agreeable  to  him.     On  diis  Biacca  entrusted  his 
manuscript  to  the  celebrated  Argelati,  at  Milan,  and  either 
with,  or  without  his  consent,  it  was  printed  at  Naples  in 
1728^    This  provoked  Sanvitali  U)  forget  his  own  and  hi$ 
father's  attachment  to  Biacca,  who  had  resided  twenty-siK 
years  in  the  family,  and  he  ordered  him  to  leave. his  house* 
Biacca,  however,  was  received  with  respect  into  manyotho: 
families,  who  each  pressed  him  to  take  up  Us  abode  with 
them.     After  having  lived  at  Milan  for  some  years,  he 
died  ait  Parma,  i^ept.  15,  1735.     Being  a  member  of  the 
Arcadians,  he,  according  to  their  custonr,  assumed  the 
'  name  of  Parmindo  Ibicfaense,  which  we  find  >  prefixed  to 
several  of  his  works*     Besides  his  defence  of  Josepbns,  he 
wrote^  1.^  Ortographia  Maniiale,  o  sia  arte  facile  di  cor* 
rettamento  Serivere  e  Parlare,^'   Parma,  1714,  12mo«-   2« 
^'  Notizie  storiche  di  Rinuccio  cardinal  PalU^ricino,  di  Pom* 
peo  Saeco  Parmigiano,  di  Coraelio  Magni^    e  del  cbnte 
NkooloCicognari  Parmigiano,^'  printed  in  vols.  L  andlL  of 
the  ^^  Notizie  istoriche  d^li  Accadi  morti,'?  Rome,  1720^ 
^^vo.;    3.  ^^  jLe  Selve  de  ^tazio,  tradotte  in. verso,  sciolto.^* 
fie  translated  also  CJatullos,  and  bodh  ndake  part  of  the  cot« 
lection  of  Italian  translations  of  theancient  Latin  authors, 
printed  at  Milan.  .In  the  poetical  collections^  there  aure 
many  small  pieces  by  .Biaeca. ' 

BIANCHI.(Anthon¥),  a  native  of  Venice,  deserves 
some  notice  in  .a  work  of  this  description,  on  account  of 
his  poems,  /which  nvece  the  production  of  nature,  without 
any  aid  from  instructidn>  or  cultivation.  He  lived  about 
the  middle  oi  the  last  century,  and  was  a  gondolier  or 
waterman's  boy -when-he  wrote,  1.  <^ II  Davide,  re  d'Israele, 
poema-eroico-^sagro,  di  Antonio  Bianchi, .servitor  di  gondola 
Veneziano,  canto  XII."'  Venice,  1751,  fol.  and  reprinted 
the  same  .year  with. an  oratorio  entitled  ^^  Elia  sur  Car«- 
melo,"  ibid.  dvo«  '  In  this,  althougli  we  do  not  find  a  strict 
attention  to  the  laws  of  the  epic,  nor  the  most  perfect 
purity  of  language)  yet  there  are  ^many  truly  poetical^ 

1  Biog.  Univ.«-*Dict  Hist.«-Saxii  Onomast,  wbtre  fome  9thcn  of  hit  works 
flnmcBtioDC^    .  ^ 


f 24-  B  1  A  N  C  H  I. 

nervous^  and  hi^ly  animated  passages.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  his,  2.  ^<  II  Tempio  ovvero  il  Salomone,  canti 
X.''  Venice,  1753,  4to,  with  historical  and  theoiogical 
notes,  which  are  believed  to  be  from  the  same  pen^  In 
his  first  poem^  he  promised  two  others,  one  a  heroi^co- 
mic,  under  the  title  of  <^  Cuccagna  distrutta,^'  the  oth^ 
*VLa  Fbrmica  contro  il  I^eane,^'  but  it  does  not  appear 
that  either  was  published.  He  gave,  hcnrever,  a  specie 
men  of  his  critical  talents,  in  a  volume  ^ititled  '^  Osservav 
sioni  contro-critiche  di  Antonio  Bianchi,  sopra  un  trattato 
della  commedia  Italiaua,  &c.  Venice,  1752,  8to.  Joseph 
Antony  Costantini,  the  author  of  this  treatise  on  ItaUan 
comedy,  wrote  an  answer,  and  asserted  that  the  **  Obser* 
vations^'  were  not  written  by  Bianchi,  and  that  the  poem  of 
David  was  not  his^  Bianchi,  however,  in « the  preface  to 
his  second  poem,  ^'  The  Temple  of  Sdbmon,*'  offered 
every  kind  of  proof  that  he  was  die  author  of  both.  '  We 
have  no  farther  account  of  this  extraordiuary  young  man^ 
althoagh  it  is  probable  from  the  merit  and  cbaiacter  of  his 
poems,  that  he  found  patrons  who  procured  him  leisure 
and  competence.  ^ 

IBIANCHI  (Francis  Ferkari),  called  IlFrari,  a  painter 
and  sculptor  of  Modena,  has  the  reputation  of  having  been 
the  master  of  Corregio,  but  never  arrived  at  the  ^me  of 
bi^  pupil.  There  is  one  of  his  pictures  in  tlie  church  of  ^ 
St  Francis  in  Modena,  by  which  it  appears  that  be  pos- 
sessed a  certain  degree  of  mellowness,  though  his  line  is 
too  dry,  and  the  eyes  of  his  figures  want  the  roundness  of 
nature,  like  those  of  Cimabue.  He  died  in  1510,  two  yean 
before  the  merit  of  Corregio  began  to  be  acknowledged*  * 

BIANCHI  (John),  an  Italian  naturalist,  more  gc^nerally 
known  by  tbe  name  of  Janus  Plamcus,  under .  which  he 
published  several  works,  was  born  Jan.  3, 1699,  at  Riniini^ 
where  he  died  Dec.  S,  1775.  In  1717  be  went  to  Bologna^ 
and  studied  botany,  natural  history,  matiiemadcs,  and 
natural  philosophy.  Having  taken  the  degree  of  doctor  in 
medicine  in  1719,  he  returned  to  bis  countiy,  but  after- 
wards resided  for  some  time  at  Bologna  and  Padua  before 
he  settled  and  began  practice  at  Rimini.  Here  aUo  he 
improved  his  acquaintance  with  botany,  and  in  his  different 
tours  accumulated  a  very  fine  collection  of.  specimens  of 
natural  history.     In  1741,  he  was  appointed  professor  of 

1  Bioy.  UniveneU«t  •  IbkJ.-^PiUdngtottj 


B  I  A  N  C  B  I.  »21f 

» 

uatofny  in  the  university  of  Sienna,  but  bis  attachment  tgf 
his  favourite  studies  induced  hiai  to  return  to  Rimini,  whero 
be  end'eavpured  to  revive  the  academy  of  the  Lincei,  the 
members  of  which  assembled  at  his  house.  He  had  focr 
merly,  when  only  twenty-two  years  of  age,  acted  as  their 
secretary,  and  gave  a  history  of  them  in  his  edition  of  the 
Phytobasanos.  In  honour  of  his  merits  and  services,  the 
society  caused  a  medal  to  be  struck,  with  his  portrait  on 
one  side,  and  on  the  other  a  lynx,  with  the  words  ^^  Lyn^ 
ceis  restitutis/'  Bianchi  was  frequently  involved  in  contro* 
versies  respecting  both  himself  and  bis  works,  the  prin^^* 
cipal  of  which*  are,  1.  ^^  Lettere  intorno  alia  cataratta,'* 
Rimini,  1720,  4to.  2.  ^^  Epistola  anatomica  adJosephum 
Puteum  Bononiensem,''  Bologna,  1726,  4to.  3.  ^^  Osser*^ 
vazioni  intorno  una  sezioue  anatomica,**  Rimini,  1731,  4t6« 
4.  ^^  Storia  della  vita  di  Catterina  Vizjzani,  troyata  pusceila 
nella  sezione  del  suo  cadavero,"  Venice^  1744,  8 vo,  trans- 
lated into  English,  London,  1751,  8vo.  5.  *^  Dissertazione 
de*  vesicatori,"  Venice,  1746,  8vo,  in  which  he  blames 
the  use  of  blisters.  6.  *^  De  monstris  et  rebus  monstrosis," 
ibid.  1749,  4to.  7.  ^^  Storia  medica  d*un  apostema  nel  loba 
destro  del  cerebello,  &c."  Rimini,  1751,  8vo,  a  very  sin- 
gular case,  with  the  appearance  on  dissection,  and  a  plate* 

8.  "  Discorso  soprail  vitto  Fitagorico,"  Venice,  1752,  8vo. 

9.  "  Trattato  de'  bagni  de  Piza,  &c."  Flcnence,  1757,  8vo. 

10.  "  Lettere  sopra  una  gigaute,"  Rimini,  1757,  8vo.  II. 
^^  Fabii  Columnar  Phytobasanos,  accedit  vita  Fabii  et  Lyn« 
ceorum  notitia,  ciim  annbtationibus,*'  Florence,  1744,  4to, 
with  plates,  notes,  and  additions.  12.  ^^  De  conchis  minus 
notis  liber,"  Venice,  1739,  4to.  with  five  plates,  which 
were  increased  to  nineteen  in  a  subse(|uent  edition,  finely 
eugraved.  Besides  these  he  wrote  several  essays  in  the 
Acts  of  the  Academy  of  Sienna,  the  Memoirs  of  the  Insti- 
tute of  Bologna,  and  the  Florence  Literary  Journal,  andl 
left  sev^rikl  works  In  manuscript^ 

BIANCHI  (John  Antony),  called  by  Fabropi  Blan- 
CHIUS,  a  religious  of  the  order  of  the  Minorites,  was  born 
Oct.  2,  1686.  For  some  years  he  taught  philosophy  and 
theology,  and  was  afterwards  provincial  of  his  order  in  the 
Roman  province,  visitor  of  that  of  Bologna,  one  of  the 
counsellors  of  the  inquisition  at  Rome,  and  an  examiner  of 
the  Roman  clergy.     He  died  Jan.  18,  1758.     Amidst  a.U 

1  Bios.  Uohr.8r0ell«.i^M«s<ttcheHi.— Sasi:  Onomsst  m  BlsncQS. 

Voi^V.  Q 


226  B  I  A  N  C  H  L 

■ 

these  graver  employments,  he  found  leisure  to  indulge  his 
taste  for  the  belles  lettres,  and  especially  dramatic  poetry, 
trhich  procured  him  admission  into  the  academy  of  the 
Arcadians.  His  works  were  published  under  his  assumed 
name  of  Farnabio  Gioachino-Annutini,  a  childish  anagram 
of  Fra  Giovanni  Antonio  Bianchi.  They  are,  principally, 
1.  **  Tragedie  sacre  e  morali,"  four  in  number,  one  upoit 
the  history  of  sir  Thomas  More,  and  all  in  prose,  Bologna^ 
1725,  8vo.  2.  Other  tragedies ;  "LaDina,"  "II  Deme- 
trio,*'  &c.  published  separately  from  1734  to  1738.  3* 
«  De'  vizj  e  dei  diffeti  del  moderno  teatro,  e  del  modo  di 
corregerli  e  d'emendarli,  ragionamenti  vr,"  Rome,  175 3. 
In  this,  which  he  published  uitder  his  academic  name,  Lau- 
riso  Tragiense,  he  defends  the  opinion  of  MaiFei  against 
that  of  Concina,  who  had  published  a  dissertation  **  De 
ipectaculis  theatralibus,^'  in  which  he  maintained  that  dra- 
matic exhibitions  were  unfriendly  te  religion  and  morals^ 
an  opinion  which  has  not  been  confined,  as  usually  said, 
to  the  puritans  or  methodists  of  England.  4.  '*  Delia  po^^ 
teste  e  polizia  della  Chiesa,  trattati  due  contro  le  nuove 
dpinioni  di  Pietro  Giannone,"  Rome,  1745 — 1751,  '5  vols. 
4to,  a  voluminous  work  in  vindication  of  the  temporal 
power  of  the  pope,  which  had  been  attacked  by  Giannone 
in  his  History  of  Naples,  and  by  Bossuet,  whose  principles 
Giannone  adopted.  He  wrote  some  tragedies  and  come* 
dies,  which  do  not  appear  to  have  been  printed,  and  left 
many  other  works  in  manuscript,  which  Fabroni  has  enu- 
merated. ^ 

BIANCHI  (John  Baptist)  a  celebrated  Italian  ana«* 
tomist,  was  born  at  Turin,  Sept  12,  1681,  and  at  the  age 
of  seventeen  was  honoured  with  a  doctor^s  degree.  He 
was  a  long  time  professor  of  anatomy  at  I'u'rin,  where  the 
Ung  of  Sardinia,  in  1715,  caused  a  very  commodious  am- 
phitheatre to  be  built  for  his  lectures.  In  1718  he  also 
taught  pharmacy,  chemistry,  and  the  practice  of  physic. 
He  was  offered  a  professor^s  chair  in  the  university  of  Bo* 
logna,  but  refused  it  from  an  attachment  to  his  native 
place,  Turin.  He  died  much  esteemed,  Jan.  2#,  1761. 
He  wrote  a  great  many  works;  among  which  were,  1. 
'*' Ductus  lacry mails,  &c.  anatome,*'  Turin,  171^,  4to, 
Leyden,  1723.  2.  **  De  lacteorum  vasorum  positionibus 
€t  fabricSy"  Turin,  1743,  4to.     3.  <^  Storia  del  mostro  di 

.  1  Fkbroni  YHtm  Italorum,  yoU  XL— Biog.  Uatvendle, 


t* 


n  I  A.N  c  ft  n  MT 

du^  corpV*  Turin,  1740,  8vo^  4.  "  Leitefa  aulP  inseasi^* 
bilita,*'  Turin,  1755^  8vo,  in  which  he  attacks  Hall«r^t 
iiotions  on  sensibility.  But  Biauchi's  most  celebrated 
works  are,  5.  His  *^  Historia  hepatica,  seu  de  Hepatin 
structura,  usibus  et  morbis,"  Turin,  1710,  4to.  1716|  and 
again  at  Geneva,  1725^  2  vols.  4to.  with  plates,  and  six 
anatomical  essays.  6.  ^'  De  naturali  in  humano  corpore^ 
vitiosa,  morbosaque  generatipne  historia,**  ibid.  1761,  8vo; 
Manget  lias  some  dissertations  by  Biancbi  in  his  Theatruni 
'Anatomicum,  and  the  collection  of  fifty-^four  plates,  con*** 
taining  two  hundred  and  seventy  anatomical  subjects,  pub-* 
lished  at  Turin*  in  1757,  was  the  work  of  Bianchi.  He 
was  unquestionably  a  man  of  learning  and  skill  in  his  pro« 
fession  ;  but  Morgagni,  in  his  Adversaria,  has  pointed  out 
many  of  his  mistakes,  and  those  which  occur  in  bis  hisfeonff 
of  the  liver,  have  been  severely  animadverted  on  by  that 
able  anatomist  in  his  '^  Epistolse  Anatomicse  duee,**  printed 
in  1727^.  but  without  his  consent,  by4he  friend  to  whom 
they  were  written.  In  this  work  Bianchi  is  charged  with 
bad  Latin,  want'of  judgment,  care,  memory,  and  l^oaoun 
These  charges,  however  severe  as  they  seem,  were  not 
thought  to  affect  the  general  merit  of  Kanchi's  great 
work.  * 

BIANCHI  (MarJc  Ai^thony),  an  Italian  lawyer,  wa$ 
born  at  Padtia  in  1498,  and  while  eminent  at  the  bar,  and 
in  consultation,  was  not  less  distinguished  for  learning 
and  probity.  In  1^25  he  was  appointed,  for  the  third  time, 
professor  of  imperial  law  in  the  university  of  Padua ;  in 
1^32,  a  second  time,  professor  of  the  decretals ;  and  leyitly 
io  1544  chief  professor  of  criminal  law,  a  situiaition  which 
he  retained  until  his  death,  Oct.  8,  1548.  Among  his 
works,  which  are  all  on  professional  subjects^  atid  written 
i&  Latin,  are  his^  1.  ^' Tractatus  de  indiciis  hbmicidii  ex 
proposito  commissi,  &c."  Venice,  1545,  fol.  1549,  8vo; 
2^  *^  Practica  criminalis  aurea,''  with  ^'  Cautelse  singulares 
ad  reorum  defensam,"  ibid.  1547,  8vo.  3«  >' Tractatus  d« 
compromissis  faciendis  inter  conjunctos,  et  de  ea;ceptioni'* 
bos  impedientibus  litis  ingressum,"  Venice,  1547^  ^vo.  * 

BIANCHI  (V£NDRAMiNO),  a  nobleman  of  Padua,  was 
secretary  of  the  senate  of  Venice  at  the  commencement  of 
the  last  century.  After  having  been  appointed  resident  from 
hb  republic  at  Milan,  on  the  death  of  Charles  IL  king  of 

»  ■  •  • 

1  Manget  Bibl.  Me<],-- Bioj^.  yntT.— Memoirs  of  Literature^  vol.  X.«-Repiib4 
lie  of  Lettcn^  toI.  L  '  Biog<  UniTerselie. 

Q2 


3S8  B  I  A  N  C  H  L 

Spain,  he  waft  sent  into  Swisserland  in  1705,  to  treat  of  an 
alliance  between  the  cantons  of  Zurich  and  Berne,  which 
was  accomplished  by  his  means  Jan.  12,  1706.  Next 
month  he  went  into  the  Grisons,  and  there  concluded  a 
treaty,  of  alliance  Dec.  1 7.  On  his  return  to  Venice,  the 
senate  sent  him  as  ambassador  to  England,  where  he  re-^ 
sided  about  twenty  months,  to  the  satisfaction  of  both  na« 
tions.  After  that  he  accompanied  the  procurator  Carlo 
Rusini,  as  secretary,  at  the  congress  for  concluding  the 
treaty  of  Passarowitz.  This  and  his  negociation  in  Swisser- 
land produced,  I.  ^'  Relazione  del  paese  de'  Svisseri  e  loro 
alleati,  d'Arminio  Dannebuchi  (the  anagfam  of  Vendra* 
mino  Bianchi),  Venice,  1708,  8vo.  This  was  translated 
into  French  and  English,  and  often  reprinted.  2.  "  Isto- 
rica  relazione  delta  pace  di  Passarowitz,*'  Padua,  17 IS 
and  1719,  4to,* 

BIANCHINI  (Bartholomew),  an  Italian  author  of  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  was  a  native  of  Bologna, 
where  he  was  much  esteemed  for  his  learning  and  moral 
character.  His  master  Philip  Beroaldo,  in  his  commen- 
taiy  on  Apuleius,  speaks  highly  of  him  as  a  young  man  of 
many  accomplishments,  and  distinguished  for  his  taste  in 
painting,  and  the  knoy^rledge  of  ancient  medals.  The  time 
of  bis  death  is  uot  known,  but  is  supposed  to  have  taken 
place  before  li523.  He  published  a  life  of  Urceus  Codrus, 
prefixed  to  that  author's  works  in  various  editions,  and 
among  others  that  of  Basil,  1540,  4to;  and  a  life  of  Philip 
Beruaido,  printed  with  his  commentary  on  Suetonius,  Ve- 
nice, 1510,  fol.  and  in  other  editions  of  the  same.* 

BIANCHINI  (FftANCisj,  a  very  learned  Italian  astrono- 
mer and  philosopher,  was  born  at  Verona,  Dec.  13,  1662. 
After  being  instructed  in  the  elements  of  education  in  his 
own  country,  he  removed  to  Bologiia,  where  he  went 
through  a  course  of  rhetoric  and  three  years  of  philosophy^ 
in  the  Jesuits*  college.  He  afterwards  studied  mathematics 
and  design,  and  made  a  great  progress  in  both.  In  16&0 
he  removed  to  Padua,  where  he  studied  divinity,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  degree  of  doctor.  His  master  in  mathe- 
matics and  natural  philosophy  was  the  learned  Moutanari, 
who  became  much  attached  to  him,  and  bequeathed  to 
him  his  collection  of  fnathematical  instruments.  At  Padua 
Bianchini  learned  also  anatomy^  and,  with  rather  more  plea^ 
-sure,  botany*     His  inclination  being  for  the  church,  he 


BIANCHINI.  229 

went  next  to  Home,  where  he  was  kindly  received  by  car- 
dinal Peter  Ottoboni,  who  knew  his  family,  and  appointed 
him  his  librarian.  Here^  as  was  usual  for  persons  with  his 
views,  he  went  through  a  course  of  law,  but  without  losing 
sight  of  his  favourite  studies,  experimental  philosophy^ 
mathematics,  and  astronomy.  He  was  admitted  a  member 
of  the  physico*mathematical  academy,  established  by 
Ciampini,  and  read  many  learned  papers  at  their  sittings. 

In  1686  he  returned  to  his  own  country,  and  was  very 
active  in  re- founding  the  academy  of  the  Aletophili,  or  lovers 
of  truth,  recommending  to  them  more  attention  to  mathe- 
matical studies,  and  to  assist  them,  he  presented  the  society 
with  the  instruments  which  Montanari  had  bequeathed  to 
him ;  but  this  academy  entirely  depended  on  his  presence^ 
and  on  his  return  to  Rome  two  years  after,  gradually  dis- 
solved. Settled  after  this  at  Rome,  he  became  connected  with 
the  most  eminent  men  of  his  time,  and  enriched  his  stores  of 
knowledge,  by  an  acquaintance  with  Greek,  Hebrew,  and 
French.  Antiquities  likewise  became  one  of  hiii  favourite 
pursuits.  He  often  passed  whole  days  among  the  splendid 
ruins  of  Rome,  assisted  at  every  research,  and  digging 
among  them,  visited  all  the  museums,  and  made  elegant 
and  correct  drawings  of  all  the  monuments  of  antiquity. 
On  the  death  of  Innocent  XI.  cardinal  Ottoboni,  his  pro- 
tector, being  chosen  pope  by  the  name  of  Alexander  VIIL 
continued  to  interest  himself  in  the  fortune  of  Bianchini, 
gave  him  a  canonry  in  the  church  of  St  Mary  Rotunda, 
appointed  him  guardian  and  librarian  to  cardinal  Peter 
Ottoboni  his  nephew,  gave  hiin  two  pensions,  and  would 
have  promoted  him  yet  farther,  if  he  had  lived,  and  if 
Bianchini  would  have  taken  orders ;  but  he  had  not  made 
up  his  mind  to  take  deacon^s  orders  until  1699,  and  never 
would  proceed  farther.  On  the  death  of  Alexander  VIII^ 
in  1691,  .the  cardinal,  bis  nephew,  continued  his  kindness^ 
'  and  besides  bestowing  a  canonry  on  him  in  the  chgrch  of 
St.  Lawrence  in  Damaso,  invited  him  to  reside  in  his  pa- 
lace. Clement  XI-  who  was  elected  pope  in  1700,  be- 
stowed on  him,  the  year  following,  the  title  of  chamber- 
lain of  honour,  authorized  him  to  wear  that  dress  of  a  pre- 
late called  the  mantelloney  and  assigned  him  apartments  in 
the  palace  of  Monte-Cavallo. 

In  1702,  the  pope  appointed  him,  with  the  title  of  his- 
toriographer, to  accompany  cardinal  Sarberini  the  legate 
.d  latcrfi  to  Naples,  when  the  king  of  Spain,  Philip  V. 
came  to  take  possession  of  that  kingdom.    Bianchini  pro- 


<23p  JP  I  4  N  C  H  J  N  I. 

fited  by  thi?  opportunity  to  visit  mount  Yesovius,  and 
ascended  to  th.e  sutnmit  of  the  crater.  On  his  return  to 
:Ilome,  in  1703,  the  senate  of  Kou^e  conferred  upon  him^ 
his  family,  and  descendants,  the  rank  of  the  Roman  nobi« 
Jity  and  the  patrician  order.  At  the  same  time  the  pope 
^hose  him  secretary  of  the  committee  for  the  reformation 
«f  the  calendar.  la  order  to  regulate  with  precision  the 
course  of  the  year,  it  was  necessary  to  establish  and  fix 
with  the  greatest  accuracy  the  equinoxial  points.  Bian- 
chini  being  employed  to  trace  a  meridian  line,  and  to  con*- 
struct  a  gnomon  on  one  of  the  churches,  performed  this 
with  great  success,  with  the  assistance  of  the  learned  Phi- 
Jip  Maraldi.  The  pope  commemorated  the  construction  of 
.the  gnomon  by  a  medal,  and  Bianchini  wrote  a  treatise  on 
both,  **  De  Numijiis  et  Gnomone  Clementino." 

HfLving^  in  17P3,  been  appointed  president  of  antiqui* 
ties,  he  exhibited  :to  the  pope^  a  plan  for  forming  a  eoU 
l/^ction  of  ^4cr^d  antiques,  or  aii  ecclesiastical  museum, 
JLQtended  to  ffj^ni^h. materials  for  lecclesiastieal. history;  but 
f^  this  would  have  been  attended  with  yery  great  expence^ 
and  the  papad:  treasury  was  at  this  time  very  low^  the 
scheme  wa$  abandoned.  The:  pope,  however,  to  console 
jBianchini,  who  had  it  very  much  at  he0tt,  gave  him  a 
canonry  in  the  church  of  St.  Mary  Maggiore,  and,  in  1712, 
'sent  him  to  Paris  with  a  cardinaPs  hat  for  Armand  de 
Bohan-Soubise,  who  was  promoted  to  that  dignity.  The 
pbject  was  trifling,  but  the  journey  was  important,  as 
serving  to  introduce  Bianchini  to  the  literati  of  France, 
who  received  him  ^yith  the  utmost  respect  At  Paris  he 
was  constant  in  his  attendance  at  the  sittings  of  the  acade* 
my  of  sciences,  whd  h^d  many  years  before  elected  bim 
an  honorary  member,  apd  he  presented  tbem  with  a  very 
ingenious  improvement  in  the  construction  of  the  larger 
telescopes,  to  prevent  those  of  uncommon  length  from 
bending  in  the  middle,  an  inconvenience  which  had  been 
thought  without  remedy.  Reaumur  wrote  a  description  of 
this,  which  is  inserted  in  the  memoirs  of  the  academy  for 
1713.  Before  returning  to  Rome,  Biianchini  took  a  trip  tQ 
Lorraine,  Holland,  and  Flanders,  and  theace  into  Engl^nd^ 
visiting  and  examining  every  museum  und  place  where  ob« 
jects  of  curiosity  were  to  be  seen,  and  was  every  where 
received  with  the  respect  due  to  his  talents.  During  his 
residence  at  Oxford,  it  is  said  that  the  university  defra3re4 
|:iie  e^pences  of  his  lodging ;  snob  is  bis  biographetr^a  ac* 


B  I  A  N  C  H  I  N  L  231 

I 

county  by  which  is  probably  meant  that  he  was  invited  to 
lodge  in  one  of  the  colleges. 

On  his  return  to  Rome  in  the  month  of  June,  17 13^  he 
resumed  his  astronomical  and  antiquarian  pursuits.  VV  hen 
in  France  be  conceived  the  idea  of  tracing  a  meridian  line 
through  Italy,  from  sea  to  sea,  in  imitation  of  that  of  Casr 
aini  through  the  middle  of  France.  He  accordingly  began, 
his  operations,  and  pursued  the  object  at  his  own  expence, 
for  eight  years,  but  other  plans  and  employments  occur- 
ring, he  never  completed  the  design.  The  papal  favours, 
however,  wer^  still  conferred  on  him,  purely  as  a  man  o£ 
science.  Innocent  XIII.  the  successor  of  Clement  XI.  ap- 
pointed him  referendary  of  the  pontifical  signatures,  and 
doniestic  prelate,  and  in  the  council  held  at  Rome  in  1725^ 
he  filled  the  office  of  first  historiographer.  Next  year,  his. 
love  for  antiquities  was  highly  gratified,  although  at  the 
«ame  time  checked  by  an  accident  which  had  serious  con- 
sequences. There  was  discovered  near  Rome  on  the  Ap- 
pian  way,  a  magnificent  marble  subterraneous  building  of 
three  large  h^Us,  whose  walls  consisted  of  a  gceai  number 
of  little  cells  like  those  of  our  modern  pidgeon-houses* 
Most  of  these  cells  contained,  each,  four  cinerary  urns, 
acconipanied  with  inscriptions  of  the  name  and  office  of  the 
person  whose  ashes  they  contained,  who  were  all  slaves  or 
freed-men  a^od  women  of  the  household  of  Augustus,  espe- 
cially that  of  Livia.  There  were  also  in  this  plaee  some 
exquisite  specimens  of  mosaic  ornaments.  Bianchini^s  joy 
on  this  discovery  may  be  easily  appreciated  by  genuine 
antiquaries ;  hut  one  unfortunate  day,  while  he  was  exa- 
mining one  of  the  chambers  or  halls,  and  preparing  to 
make  a  drawing,  the  ground  on  which  be  stood  gave  way^ 
and  although  his  fall  was  broken  by  some  earth  which  bad 
been  dug,  one  of  bis  thighs  received  such  a  serious  injury^ 
that  he  was  lame  for  the  remainder  of  bis  life ;  and  aU 
though  he  found  some  relief  at  the  baths  of  Viguona  near^ 
Sienna,  where  he  went  the  foUo'wing  year,  his  health  was 
never  completely  re-established. 

This  accidfent,  however,  did  not  interrupt  his  literary 
pursuits.  He  travelled  to  Florence,  to  Paruia,  and  to  Co- 
lorno,  where,  in  the  ducal  palace,  he  traced  a  nieridiauj 
^ich  does  not  now  exist;  and  on  his  return  to  Rome  re- 
4ume4  his  astronomical  labours,  particularly  his  observa- 
tions pn  i^he  planet  Venus,  whom  he  had  been  studying 
fc[r  a  gjreat  many  years.     H€  set  out  by  e&deavouripg  to 


232  B  I  A  rJ  C  H  I  N  I. 

ascertain  her  parallax  by  the  ingenious  method  invented 
by.Cassini  for  the  parallax  of  Mars.  This  method  consists 
in  comparing  the  motion  of  the  planet,  whose  parallax  is 
wanted,  with  some  fixed  stars  very  n^ar  it,  and  that  for 
some  considerable  space  of  time,  but  a  fair  opportunity  of 
doing  it  seldom  happens.  It  was,  however,  signor  Bian- 
<;hini's  good  fortune  to  meet  with  one  in  the  beginning  ot 
July,  1716,  when  Venus  and  Regulus  came  to  the  meri- 
dian so  nearly  together^  that  he  could  discover  them  both 
in  the  same  neld  of  his  refracting  telescope.  In  observing 
the  spots  of  Venus,  he  employed  the  instrument  before 
mentioned,  which  he  presented  to  the  academy  of  Paris. 
His  observations,  however,  on  this  planet,  although  very 
interesting  to  the  astronomers  of  his  age,  have  not  been 
confirmed  by  the  more  recent  observations  of  Herschel 
and  others,  with  instruments  ofmuch  greater  power  than  he 
possessed.  What:  be  published  on  this  subjet%  in  1728, 
leas  among  the  last  of  his  efforts  for  the  promotion  of 
science,  as  he  now  contracted  a  dropsical  complaint  of 
which  he  died  March  2,  1729,  He  left  his  property  t6 
his  nephew  Joseph  Bianchihi,  the  subject  of  our  next  ar*- 
ticle,  and  the  greater  part  of  his  books  and  ecclesiastical 
anticjuities  to  the  library  of  the  chapter  of  Verona.  Great 
honours  were  paid  to  his  memory  by  a  monument  in,  the 
cathedral  of  Verona,  voted  by  the  city,  and  other  public- 
marks  of  esteem.  He  was  a  man  of  extensive  knowledge, 
particularly  in  natural  philosophy,  mathematicS|  botany, 
agriculture,  history,  and  antiquities.  He.  also  cultivated 
polite  literature,  oratory,  and  poetry.  His  manners,  easy, 
elegant,  and  accommodating,  were  rather  those  of  the 
world  than  of  the  schools,  and  he  appears  to  have  been 
beloved,  or  respected,  wherever  he  went. 

His  works  w:ere  nunierous:  the  following  list  of  the 
principal  is  arranged,  rather  according  to  the  connexion 
of  the  subjects,  than  the  chronological  order,  which  in 
general  it  is  convenient  to  preserve.  1.  Three  memoirs 
ia  the  ^*  Acta  eriiditorum,*'  of  Leipsic,  for  1685  and  1686,^ 
on  a  comet  observed  at  Home  in  1684;  on  Cassini*s  me* 
thod  of  observing  the  parallaxes  and  distances  of  the 
planets,  and  on  atotal  eclipse  of  the  moon  at  Rome,  Dec. 
10,  1685.  2.  A  memoir  on  the  comet  seen  at  Rome  iit 
April  1702,  with  other  astronomical  observations  inserted 
in  the  "  Memoirs  of  the  academy  of  Paris,'*  17QS,  17#6^ 
>nd  1708.    All  the  preceding,  if  we  mistake  not^  are  in 


B  I  A  N  C  M  I  N  L  flSS 

VsAiin.  3.  ^^  Relazione  delta  tinea  meridiana  oriz2onUle  e 
della  ellissi  polarefabbricata  in  Roma  TaniiQ  1702,"  without 
his  name  in  the  Joarnal  <<  de'  Letterati  d'ltalia,"  vol  IV. 
4.  <<  Epistola  de  ecHpsi  solis  die  Maii,  1724,"  Rome^ 
1724.  5.  <<  Hesperi  et  Phosphori  nova  phenomena,  sive 
observationes  circa  planetam  Veneris,"  Rome,  1728,  fok 
6.  <^  Fr.  Biancbini  astronomicae  et  geographies  observa« 
tiones  selectee  ex  ejus  autograpbis^  &c.  cara  et  studio  Eu* 
stachii  Manfredi,"  Verona,  1737,  fol.  7.  "  De  emble* 
mate,  nomine  atque  instituto  Alethopbilorum,  dissertatio 
publice  habita  in  eorundem  acadetnia,"  Verona,  1687. 
8.  '*  Istoria  universale  provata  con  ndonumenti  e  tigurata 
^on  simboli  degli  antichi,"  Rome,  1697,  4to.  This  curi- 
ous volume,  the  plates  of  which  were  engraven  by  himself, 
and  from  his  own  designs,  was  to  have  been  followed  by 
several  others,  completing  the  series  of  ancient  history,  but 
this  proceeds  no  farther  than  the  ruin  of  the  Assyrian  em- 
pire. He  will  perhaps  be  thought  to  deal  in  paradox,  tit 
asserting  here  that  the  Iliad  is  no  more  than  a  real  history 
under  the  form  of  an  allegory,  each  of  Homer's  heroes  ot; 
deities  being  a  country  or  a  king.  9.  ^'  De  Kaleiidario  et 
Cyclo  Caesaris  ac  de  Paschaii  canone  S.  Hippolyti  martyris^ 
dissertationes  duaE^,"  Rome,  1703,  1704,  toL  This  also 
contains  an  account  of  the  gnomon  he  constructed,  and 
the  pope^s  medal  struck  on  that  occasion.  10.  Two  papers 
explanatory  of  ancient  sculptures,  inserted  in  the  f^  Me" 
morie  concernenti  la  citta  d^Urbtno,"  Rome,  1724,  foL 
11.  *^  Camera  et  iscri2doni  sepolcrali,  &c:''  the  history  of 
the  discoveries  he  made  in  the  sepulchral  building  before 
meiitioned,  Rome,  1727,  fol.  12.  '^  Del  paiazzo  de'  Ce* 
«ari,  opera  postuma,"  Verona,  17 S8,  published  by  hit 
nephew  who  had  accompanied  it  with  a  Latin  translation* 
13.  ^^  Dissertatio  posthiima  de  tribus  generibus  instru- 
mentorum  musicss  veterum  organicas,*'  R(»me,  1742, 
4to.  14.  An  edition  of  Anastasius  BibUothecarius*  history 
of  the  PopfS,  Rome,  1718^  1723,  and  1728,  3  vols.  foL 
The  fourth  was  added  by  his  nephew.  1 5.  ^^  Opuscula 
taria,"  Rome,  i754,  2  vols.  4to.  To  these  may  be  added 
his  Italian  poems  in  the  collection  of  those  of  the  '*  Aca- 
demic! concordi^"  of  Ravenna,  published  at  Bologna,  1687, 
l2mo.  and  many  scientific  letters,  dLsenations,  if,o.  in  the 
Paris  *^  History  of  the  Academy  of  the  Sciences,"  for  thift 
years  1704,  1706 — 8,  17U,  and  1718.* 

1  Biog.  UniTftivelle.-^Eloge  by  Pontenelle.— ChAufepie.-*FalMroiu  Vita  Ita« 
Ittum,  foL  YL— Saail  OnoiDastioim. 


a34  B  I  A  N  C  H  I  N  r. 

BIANCHINI  (JosEf^H),  nepbew  of  the  precediog,  priest 
of  the  oratory  of  St.  PhUip  de  Neri^  was  also  a  learned 
antiquary.     He   was  born  at  Verona  Sept.  9,  1704,  the 
son  of  John  Baptist,  brother  to  Francis  Biancbini^  and  was 
educated  under  ^e  eye  of  his  uncle  in  the  college  of  Mon-* 
tefiascoiie.     Before  1725,  he  was  promoted  to  a  catiooiy 
in  the  cathedral,  and  a  prebendal  stall  in  St.  Luke,  and 
was  soon  after  appointed  librarian  to  the  chapter :  but  iu 
1732  he  resigned  that  and  his  benefices,  and  entered  into 
the  congregation  of  the  oratory  at  Rome,   where  he  di» 
vided  his  time  between  the  pious  duties  of  that  order,  and 
bis  literary  researches,  particularly  in  what  related  to  his- 
tory and  ecclesiastical  antiquities.     His  first  publicatioa 
was,  1.  The  fourth  and  concluding  yolume  of, his  uncle's 
edition  of  Anastasius  Bibliothecarius,    Rome,   1735,  foi. 
2.  **  VindicisB  canonicarum  Scripturarum  vulgatsD  Latins 
editionis,''  Rome,   1740,  fol.     This  volume,  the  only  one 
published,  was  to  have  been  followed  by  six  others,  the 
plan  of  which  is  sketched  in  the  preface,  which,  with  the 
preliminary  dissertations,  contains  the  history  of  all  the 
different  books  of  the  bible,  the  manuscript  copies  in  vari<- 
Qos   libraries,    tb^   translations,    &c.      3.  *^  Evangeliarum 
quadruples  Latinse  versionis  antiquaB,  sen  veteris  Italicse, 
nunc  primnm  in  lucem  editum  ex  codd.  MSS.  aureis,  ar« 
genteis,   &c.    aliisque  plusquam   millenarise  antiquitatis,*' 
•  Rome,'  1749,  foi.     This  may  be  considered  as  a  part  of 
the  preceding.     4.  ^<  Demonstratio  historic  ecclesiastics^^ 
quadripartitsB  monumentis  ad  fidera  temporum  et  gesto- 
rum,'*  ibid,  1752,  fol.     A  second  volume  was  afterwards 
published  of  this  elegant  collection  of  fragments  of  anti- 
quity, inscriptions,  medals,  vases,  &c.  found  in  the  dif- 
ferent churches,  cemeteries,  and  museums  of  Rome,  or 
ebewhere,  beautifully  engraven,  and  accompanied  with  ex<» 
planations  and  chronological  tables.     It  extends,  however^ 
iK>  ferther  than  the  first  two  centuries  of  the  Christian  uerar 
/5.  *^  Delle  porte  e  mura  di  Roma,  con  illustrazioni,"  ibid. 
1747,  4to.     6.  *^  Parere  sopra  la  cagione  della  morte  della 
sig.   contessa  Oomelia  Zangari,  esposto  in  una  lettera," 
Verona,  1731,  and  an  improved  edition,  Rome,  1743,  8vo^ 
This  curious  dissertation  relates  to  a  lady  of  rank  who  was 
found  in  her  room  reduced  to  ashes,  except  her  head,  legs; 
and  one  of  her  fingersi^    As  this  could  not  be  ascribed  to 
external  fire,  the  room  being  no  wise  damaged,  it  .excited 
much  ^ittention,  and  gave  rise  to  a  variety  of  opinions. 


B  I  A  N  C  H  I  N  I.  .   2SS 

Biancbini  mMntains  in  this  tract,  that  it  was-tbeeffecMf 
an  internal  and  spontaneous  fire  occasioned  by  the  excesr 
sive  use  of  camphorated  brandy,  to  which  the  lady  bad 
been  oauch  addicted.  The  J^me  of  Bianqhini's  death  is  not 
mentioned.  *  .        ;        •       . 

BIANCHINI  (John  FoRTUNATUS),  an  Italian  ^philoso^ 
pher  and  physician  of  considerable  repu^ition  in  the  last 
century,  was  born,  in  1720,  at  Chi^ti  in  the  kingdom  of 
Naples,  where  he  studi^,  took  his  degrees,  and  for  some 
years  practised  physic.  He  then  went  to  Venice^  but.hi^ 
growing  reputation  procured  him  the  place  of  first  physi- 
cian at  Udina,  where  he  resided  from  1759  to.l777,  and 
was  then  appointed  first  professor  of  the  practice  of  physitp 
in  the  university  of  Padua,  and  was  admitted  a  member  ,of 
the  academy,  a&  he  had  been  of  that  of  Udina.  H'ewas 
likewise  one  of  the  pensionaries  of  the  academy  of  Padua^ 
but  did  not  .enjoy  these  situations  long,  dying  Sept.  2^ 
1779.  He  wrote  many  treatises  on  professional  subject^ 
electricity,  the  force  of  imagination  in  pregnant  wonjien, 
putrid  fevers,  worms,  &c.  a  list  of  which  may  be  seen  in 
our  authority.  * 

BIANCHINI  (Joseph  Maria),  an  Italian  scholar  of  the 
last  century,  was  born  at  Prato  in  Tuscany,  Nov.  Id,  1685« 
He  had  but  just  finished  his  education  at  Florence,  when 
he  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  academy  of  the  Apatisti^ 
and  two  years  after,  of  that  of  Florence,  nor  was  he  more 
than  twenty  when  he  became  known  to  and  associated  with 
the  principal  literati  of  that  city.  He  went  afterwards  to 
Pisa,  and  studied  philosophy  and  mathematics  under  Alex<- 
ander  Marchetti,  the  translator  of  Lucretius,  and  ther^;  be 
received  the  degree  of  doctor  of  laws,  and  the.  order  of 
priesthood.  There  ialso  the  bishop  of  Prato  appointed 
him  to  give  public  lectures  on  the  works  of  t^e,  fathers,  in 
the  course  of  which  he  became  particularly  attached  ta 
those  of  St.  Bernard;  and  the  bishop  of  Pistoia  gavje  hint 
the  living  of  St.  Peter  .at  Ajolo,  where  he  made  himself 
very  popular.  Such  also  was  bis  literary  fame,  that  besides 
the  acadeinies  we  have  mentioned,  be  was  admitted  a 
member,  of  the  Infecundi  of  Prato,  the  Innominati  pf  Bri^ 
in  Piedmont,  of  the  Rinvigoriti  of  Jfobgno,  the:Arcadi^pg 
of  Rome,  the  Columbarian  society,  and  the  della  Crusca^ 
His  life  was  exemplary,  his  character  loyal  ai^d  iugeouous^ 

^  BiQg.  Unirerfelle.««»Saxhl8  uiBkachiaiif.'  *  Biog.  Uni^enelle. 


S3«  BIANCHINl. 

although  somewhat  reserved.  He  loved  retirement,  yet 
>vas  of  a  placid  humour,  and  enjoyed  effusions  of  wit ;  but 
in  his  latter  years  he  fell  into  a  state  of  melancholy,  ag« 
gravated  by  bodily  disorder,  which  terminated  in  his  death 
Feb.  17,  1749.  His  two  most  considerable  works,  were, 
1.  <'  De*  gran  duchi  di  Toscana  della  real  casa  de^  Medici," 
Venice,  1741,  fol.  an  account  of  the  ancient  sovereigns 
of  Florence,  as  patrons  of  literature  and  the  arts,  but  con- 
taining little  new  matter.  2.  '^  Delia  satira  Italiana,  trat- 
tato,^ V  Massa,  1714,  4to.  Florence,  1729,  4to;  a  critical 
work  highly  esteemed  in  Italy.  To  the  second  edition  the 
author  has  annexed  an  Italian  dissertation,  on  the  hypo- 
crisy of  men  of  letters,  in  which  be  exposes  what  would  be 
called  in  this  country  the  arts  of  puffing,  which  his  bio^ 
grapher  remarks,  have  made  very  great  progress  since  his 
time.  3.  *^  La  Cantica  de  Cantici  di  Salomone  tradotta 
in  versi  Toscani  con  annotazioni,"  Venice,  1735.  Various 
other  small  pieces  of  criticism,  bibliography,  &c.  from  his 
pen  are  inserted  in  the  academical  collections,  parti- 
cularly "  Prose  Fioren tine,*'  Venice,  1754,  4to.  * 

BIANCOLINI  (John  Baptist  Joseph),  was  born  at 
Verona,  March  10,  1697,  of  an  eminent  tiiercantile  family, 
and  as  after  completing  his  education  he  shewed  no  incli<« 
nation  for  the  church,  his  father  brought  him  up  to  trade, 
which  he  carried  on  during  the  whole  of  his  long  life.  In 
his  youth  be  was  particularly  attached  to  music,  played 
on  several  instruments,  and  even  attempted  composition, 
but  neither  this  taste,  nor  his  mercantile  pursuits,  inter- 
tupted  his  fondness  for  the  study  of  the  history  and  anti- 
quities of  his  own  country,  which  in  the  course  of  a. few 
yHrs  beheld  one  of  its  merchants  placed  in  the  rank  of  men 
of  letters  and  historians.  His  works  entirely  relate  to  the 
history  of  Verona,  and  although  he  appears  rather  as  editor 
than  author,  yet  bis  countrymen  felt  no  small  obli^tion  to 
him  for  the  care,  and  expense  which  he  bestowed  in  im« 
proving  their  ancient  annalists.  His  first  labour  was  a  new 
edition  and  supplement,  in  2  vols.  4to,  1745  and  1747,  of 
Zagata's  **  Chronicle  of  the  City  of  Verona,'*  enriched  with 
additions  of  great  interest  by  Biancolini,  particularly  a  plan 
of  the  ancient  theatre  of  Verona,  which  the  learned  MafFei 
had  thought  it  impossible  to  trace.  2.  "  Notizie  storiche 
dellecbi^  di  Verona/'  four  books,  1749— 1752,  4to,  af« 

IBiog.  yaireneUc 


B  I  A  N  C  O  L  I  N  I.  JW7 

I 

terwards  reprinted  and  enlarged  to  6  vols.  4to.  3.  "  Dei 
vescovi  e  gOTcrnatori  di  Verona  dissertaziuni  due,*'  Ve- 
rona, 1757,  4to.  He  also  contributed  to  the  Italiaa  trans* 
lation  of  tde  Greek  historians,  '^  Collaiia  degli  storici 
Greci/'  (begun  in  1733  atVerona  by  the  bookseller  Ra- 
manzini)  not  only  by  literary,  but  pecuniary  .assistance  of 
the  most  liberal  kind.  He  died  upwards  of  eighty*twQ 
years  old,  in  1780.* 

BIANCONI  (John  Lewis),  a  celebrated  Italian  phild* 
sopher  and  physician,  was  born  atBplogna,  Sept.  30, 17 17. 
After  having  studied  physic  with  great  diligence  and  suc- 
cess, he  was  in  his  nineteenth  yeatr  appointed  medical  as^ 
sistant  in  one  of  the  hospitals,  and  after  tour  years,  was* 
in  1742,  admitted  to  the  degree  of  doctor.     In  1743  and 
1744  he  published  a  valuable  translation  into  Italian  of 
Winslow's  Anatomy,  6  vols.  dvo.     In  the  last  mentioned 
year,  his  reputation  induced  the  landgrave  of  Hesse-Darm-  . 
stadt,  prince  and  bishop  of  Augsburgh,  to  give  him  an  in- 
vitation to  reside  with  him,  which  Bianconi  accepted,  and 
remained  there  for  six  years.     During  this  time  he  pub- 
lished   "Duelettere  di  Fisica,"  &c.  Venice,  1746,  4to, 
addressed  to  the  celebrated  marquis  Maffei,  and  wrote  ia 
French  an  **  Essay  on  Electricity,**  addressed  to  another 
learned  friend,  count  Algarotti.    He  also  began,  4n  Frencby 
^*  Journal  des   nouveaut^s  litteraires    d'ltalie,'*     printed 
at  Leipsic,  but  with  Amsterdam  on  the  title,   1748,  1749^ 
8vo,  which  he  continued  to  the  end  of  a  third  volume* 
In  1750,  he  went  to  the  couirt  of  Dresden,  with  a  strong 
recommendation  from  pope  Benedict  XIV.  to  Augustus 
III.  king  of  Poland,  who  received  him  .into  his   confi- 
dence, and  appointed  him  his  aulic  counsellor,   and  in 
1760  sent  him  to  France  on  a  political  affair  of  cqnsl* 
derable  delicacy,  which  be  transacted  with  skill  and  satis- 
factiQn  to  his  employer.     In  1764,  his  majesty  appointed 
him  his  resident  minister  at  the  court  of  Rome,  where  he 
felt  his  literary  taste  revive  with  its  usual  keenness,  and 
was  a  contributor  to  various  literary  Journals.     That  of  the 
**  Effemeridi  letterarie  di  Roma"  owed  its  rise  principally 
to  him,  and  for  some  time,  its  fame  to  his  contributions.    It 
was  in  this  he  wrote  his  eloges  on  Lupacchinj,.  Piranesi,^ 
and  Mengs,  which  last  was  published  separately,  with  ad*. 
ditions,  in  1780.     In  his  twelve  Italian  letters  on  the  his- 
tory of  Cornelius  Celsus,  printed  at  Rome  in  1779,  h^ 

}  Bio^.  Universdle* 


238  »  I  A  N  C  ONI. 

restores'  that  celebrated  physician  to  the  age  of  Augusta^/ 
eontrary  to  the'coniinon  opinion,  ati'd  to  that  of  Tirasboscbif 
(tcr  whom  thcfy  'were  addressed),  who  places  him  in  what  is^ 
called  the  silver  age.  He  <vas  projecting  a  magnificent 
editidn  of  Celsus,  a  life  of  Petrarch,  and  some  other  lite- 
rary undertakings,  when  he  died  sudderily  at  Perugia,  Jan. 
I,  1781,  universally  regretted.  He  left  ready  for  the 
press,  a  work  in  Italian  and  French,  on  the  circus  of  Cara- 
ealla,  which  was  magnificently  printed  at  Rome  in  1790^ 
with  nineteen  beautiful,  engravings.  * 

BIAS,  called  one  of^Sie  wise  men  of  Greece,  was  born 
at  Priene,  a  small  town  of  Caria,  about  570  B.  C.  Hc 
was  in  great  repute  in  Greece,  under  the  reigns  of  Ha-» 
lyattes  and  Crcesus,  kings  of  Lydia.  Though  bom  to  great 
riches,  be  lived  without  splendour,  expending  his  fortune 
in  relieving  the  needy,  and  although  esteemed  the  most 
eloquent  orator  of  his  time,  he  desired  to  reap  no  other 
advantage  from  this  talent,  than  that  of  glory  to  his  coun- 
try. In  his  pleadings  he  shewed  such  discrimination,  as 
never  to  undertake  Any  cause  which  he  did  not  think  just. 
It  was  usual  to  say  of  a  good  cause  that  it  was  one  which  Bias 
would  have  undertaken,  yet  we  are  not  told  by  what  means 
he  knew  that  a  cause  was  good  before  it  was  tried.  On 
one  occasion,  certain  pirates^  brought  several  young  women 
to  sell  as  slaves  at  Prien^.  Bias  purchased  them,  and 
maintained  them,  until  he  had  an  opportunity  to  return 
them  to  their  friends.  This  generous  action  could  not  fail 
to  increase  his  popularity,  and  made  him  be  styled  **  the 
prince  of  the  wise  men." 

When  Halyattes  laid  siege  to  PrienSj  Bias,  who  wa* 
then  chief  magistrate,  made  a  vigorous  resistance  for  a  long: 
time,  and  when,  owing  to  a  scarcity  of  provisions,  the  city 
was  in  danger  of  being  surrendered,  Bia^  caused  two  beau* 
tiful  mules  to  be  fattened,  and  to  be  driven  towards  the 
enemy's  camp,  as  if  they  had  escaped  from  the  inhabitants 
of  Prien^.  Halyattes,  seeing  these  animals  in  so  good 
plight,  was  afraid  the  town  was  in  no  danger  of  starving^ 
but,  in  order  to  be  certain,  contrived  to  send  a  spy  into  the 
city.  Bias,  suspecting  his  design,  caused  great  heaps  of 
sand  to  be  covered  with  wheat,  and  the  messenger  having 
reported  this  abundance,  Halyattes  made  an  alliance  with 
the  inhabitants  of  Priene,  and  left  them  in  peace. 

Bias  is  said  to  have  composed  above  two  thousand  verses^'  > 

1  Biog.  Universelle. — Saxii  Onomast. 


BIAS.  259 

cpQtsimng  pradential  maxinis,  many  of  which  may  be  focind 
hi  Stiinleyy  and  other  writers  on  the  lives  of  the  philosophers. 
The  iToUowing  have  been  selected  by  Brucker :  ^Mt  is  a 
proof  of  a  weak  and  disordered  mind  to  desire  impossi- 
bilities. The  greatest  infelicity  is,  not  to  be  able  to  endure 
misfortunes  patiently.  Great  minds  alone  can  support  a 
sudden  reverse  of  fortune.  The  most  pleasant  state  is,  to 
be  always  gaining.  Be  not  unmindful  of  the  miseries  of 
others.  If  you  are  handsome,  do  handsome  things ;  ifde* 
formed,  supply  the  defects  of  nature  by  your  virtues.  Be 
slow  in  undertaking,  but  resolute  in  executing.  Praise 
not  a  worthless  man  for  the  sake  of  his  wealth.  Whatever 
good  you  do,  ascribe  it  to  the  gods,  j^ay  in  wisdom  as  the 
store  for  your  journey  from  youth  to  old  age,  for  it  is  the 
most  certain  possession. .  Many  men  are  dishonest ;  there- 
fore love  your  friend  with  caution,  for  he  may  hereafter 
become  your  enemy.'*  This  last,  however,  would  have 
better  become  a  Rochefoucault,  or  a  Chesterfield.  Bias 
happened  to  be  at  Priene,  when  it  was  taken  and  sacked, 
and  when  asked,  why  he  did  not,  like  the  rest,  think  of 
saving  something,  answered,  "  So  I  do,  for  I  carry  my  all 
with  me."  The  action  by  which  his  days  were  terminated 
was  no  less  illustrious  than  those  of  his  former  life.  He 
caused  himself  to  be  carried  into  the  senate,  where  he  zea- 
lously defended  the  interest  of  one  of  his  friends,  but  being 
now  very  old,  it  fatigued  him  much.  He  leaned  his  head 
on  the  breast  of  one  of  his  daughter's  sons,  who  had  ac- 
companied him.  When  the  orator,  who  pleaded  for  his 
opponent,  had  finished  his  discourse,  the  judges  pro- 
nounced in  favour  of  Bias,  who  immediately  expired  in  the 
arms  of  his  grandson.  ^ 

BIBBIENA,  Cardinal.     See  DOVIZI. 

BIBBIENA  (Ferdinand  Galli),  painter  and  architect, 
was  born  at  Boulogne  in  1657.  He  studied  the  elements 
of  his  art  under  Cignani,  a  distinguished  artist,  and 
when  this  master  produced  his  disciple  to  the  world,  hisr 
talents  for  architecture,  for  theatrical  decorations,  and  for 
perspective,  obtained  him  a  good  reception.  The  duke  of 
Parma  and  the  emperor  gave  him  the  title  of  their  first 
painter,  and  loaded  hitn  with  favours.  Several  magnificent 
edifices  were  raised  after  his  plans.    His  pieces  of  perspec- 

1  SUnley's  Hiitory  of  Philoiophjr.— Bruoker.— Fendoa,  translated  ky  Cor- 
■lack. 


240  B  I  B  B  I  £  N  A. 

tive  ate  full  of  taste,  but  there  have  not  been  wanting  soma^ 
critics  who  have  censured  him  for  having  a  pencil  more 
fontastic  than  natural  and  just.  He  died  blind  io  1743, 
leaving  two  books  of  architecture ;  and  sons  worthy  of  their 
father.  It  is  probable  that  to  one  of  them  (J.  Galli  Bib* 
biena)  the  public  is  indebted  for  the  ^^  History  of  the 
amours  of  Valeria  and  the  noble  Venetian  Barbarigo/* 
translated  into  French,  Lausanne  and  Geneva,  1751.  He 
had  also  a  brother,  an  architectural  painter  of  considerable 
£ame./ 

BIBLIANDER  (Theodore),  an  eminent  Protestani 
divine,  whose  real  fiame  was  Buchman,  which  he  changed 
into  Bibliander,:  according  to  a  custom  very  prevalent  in 
his  time,  was  born  in  1500,  or  rather  1504,  according  to 
D.  Clement  and  Saxius,  at  Bischoffzel  near  St  Gall,  and 
in  1532,  succeeded  Zwinglius  in  the  divinity-chair  at 
Zurick.  This  he  filled  a  considerable. time,  until  having 
adopted  some  opinions  on  the  subject  of  predestination, 
which  were  hostile  to  those  generally  received  in  the  re« 
formed  church,  he  was  gently  dismissed,  by  being  declared 
emeritus,  and  his  place  supplied  by  Peter  Martyr.  He 
died  qf  the  plague  at  Zurich  in  1564.  He  was  a  man  of 
great  reputation  for  learning,  especially  in  the  oriental 
languages.  He  wrote,  1.  *^  Apologia  pro  edit.  Alcorani^ 
edita  a  J.  Fabricio,  cum  testamento.  Moh^medis,''  Rostock, 
1638,  4to.  2.  ^^  Machumetis  Saracenorum  principis,  ejus- 
que  successorum  vitae,  doctrina,  ac  ipse  Alcoran,"  &c. 
Basil,  1 543,  fol.  This  work  is  divided  "into  three  parts  ; 
the  first  contains  a  Latin  translation  of  the  Alcoran ;  the 
seconds  many  pieces  in  refutation  of  the  doctrines  and  er- 
rors of  the  Alcoran  ;  and  the  third,  some  parts  of  the  works 
of  Paul  Jovius,  and  others,  on  the  history  and  manners  of 
the  Turks.  The  whole  was  reprinted  at  Basil  in  1550,  but 
with  considerable  alterations  in  the  second  part,  and  the 
addition  of  some  articles  to  the  third.  3.  **  Q[uoinodo  opor* 
teat  legere  sacras  scripturas,  praescriptiones  Apostolorum^ 
Prophetarum,  &c.^'  ibid.  1550,  8vo.  4.  ^^  Amplior  coh« 
•ideratio  decreti  synodalis  Trident  de  authent.  doct.  eccL 
Dei,  &c.*'  1551,  8vo.  5.  '*  Sermo  divin.  majest,  voce 
pronunciatus,  sen  Comment,  in  Decalog.  et  Sermon.  Dom. 
in  monte  Sinai,''  Basil,  1552,  fol.  6.  *'  Concilium  sacra- 
sanctum  eccL  cathol.  in  quo  demonstratur  quomodo  possit 

1  Bio|f.  UniTereelU, 


B  I  B  L  I  A  N  D  E  R.  241 

^ereuDti  popnlo  Christiano  succorri,'*  1552^  8vo.  7.  *^  Vi- 
ta B.  Marci  evangeiistaB>*'  Bale,  i5S2^  8,  ^M!)e  ratione 
temp.. Christ  &c. liber/'  ibid.  I55ly  8vo.  9.  "  Temporuia 
a  condito  mundo  usque  ad  ultim.  ipsius  setat.  supputatio,^' 
ibid*   15589  fol.     10.  ^*  Evangeiica  bistoria/'  ibid.  1551* 

11.  <^  De  fatis 'monarchiae  Rotnanae,  somniuoiy  Taticinium 
Esdrae/'  &g.  ibid.  1553,  4to,  a  coUectioa  of  remarks  on 
prophecies  applicable  to  the  apostacy  of  the  Romish  church* 

12.  "  De  summa  Trinitate  et  fide  catholicai  &c.-''  ibid* 
1^55,  4to.  13.  **  De  Mysteriis'  salutiferas  passionis  et 
mortis  Jesu  Messis^  libri  tres/'  ibid.  1555.  14.  '' De 
ratione  communi  omnium  iinguarum  et  litterarum  commen- 
tarius/'  Zurich,  1548,  4to,  a  curious  work,  in  which  he  en- 
deavours to  prove  an  analogy  between  all  languages,  and 
all  the  letters  of  those  languages.  These  last  five  works 
are  extremely  rare.  Bibliander  also,  assisted  by  Conrad 
Pelican  and  Cholin,  completed  and  superintended  the  edi- 
tion of  the  Bible  by  Leo  de  Juda,  and  translated  a  consi- 
derable part  of  it.  Many  of  his  manuscripts  are  preserved 
in  the  library  of  Zurich,  and  a  full  account  of  them  has 
been  given  by  Teissier  in  his  additions  to  Thuanus's  account 
of  eminent  men,  vol,  II.  ^ 

BICHAT  (Maria-Francis-Xavier),  a  very  celebrated 
'French  physician,  and  whose  labours  have  greatly  promoted 
the  study  of  physiology,  was  born  Nov.  11,  177  J,  at  Thoi- 
rette.  His  father  was,  also  a  physician,  an|.  had  pro- 
bably initiated  him  in  medical  knowledge,  which  he  studied 
at  Lyons,  where  Petit,  then  surgeon  of  the  Hotel-Dieu  in 
that  city,  under  whom  he  was  taught  anatomy  and  surgery, 
bad  such  ah  opinion  of  his  talents,  that  he  made  him  his 
assistant,  although  then  only  in  his  twentieth  y^ar.  When 
Lyons  was  besieged  in  1793,  he  made  his  escape,  and  ar- 
rived at  Paris  about  the  end  of  that  yean  There,  without 
any  recommendations  from  friends,  he  resumed  his  studies 
and  became  one  of  the  pupils  of  the  celebrated  Dussault, 
who  discovering  his  uncommon  talents,  invited  him  to  his 
house,  treated  him  as  his  son,  and  found  in  him  a  most 
able  assistant  Of  this  generous  protector,  however,  he 
was  deprived  by  death  in  1795,  and  became  in  his  turn  the 
support  of  Dussault's  widow  and  children.  He  first  com- 
pleted the  fourth  volume  of  Dussault's  ^^  Journal  de  Chi- 

1  Bjof .  UBir.-^en.  Diet,«>Moreri.~Melchior  Adam  in  vitis  Theologwriun. 
i  OnomafticOB* 


Vol.  V.  R 


Hi  Bit  HA  T. 

rurgie.'*  In  1797  be  published  bis  **  CEuvres  chirurgicales/? 
2  vols.  8vo.  In  the  same  year  he  began  to  give  lecturds 
on  anatomy  and  operative  surgery,  to  which,  in  1798,  he 
added  a  course  of  physiology,  which  produced  his  "Trait6 
des  Membranes,"  1800,  8vo,  and  "  Becherches  pbysiolo- 
giques  sur  la  vie  et  sur  la  mort,"  1800,  8vo,  in  both  which 
be  advances  some  of  those  original  opinions  which  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  faculty  both  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
paved  the  way  for  the  higher  fame  he  acquired  by  his 
♦*  Anatomic  generale  appliqu6e  a  la  physiologic  et  a  Id. 
medicine,"  Paris,  1801,  4  vols.  8vo,  one  6f  the  ablest  works 
on  the  subject  which  France  has  produced.  The  year  pre* 
ceding,  although  only  twenty-eight  years  old,  he  was  ap- 
pointed physician  to  the  Hotel  Dieu,  and  had  begun  a  new 
treatise  on  descriptive  anatomy,  when  the  world  was  de- 
prived of  his. labours,  by  a  premature  death,  the  conse- 
quence of  a  putrid  fever,  July  22,  1802.  He  was  deeply 
regretted  for  his  talents  and  virtues.  ^ 

BIDDLE  (John),  a  noted  Socinian  writer,  was  bom  in 
1615,  at  Wotton-under-Edge,  in  Gloucestershire.  He  was 
educated  at  the  free-school  in  that  town ;  and,  being  a  pro- 
mising youth,  was  noticed  by  George  lord  Berkeley,  who 
made  him  an  allowance  of  10/.  a  year.  While  at  this 
school,  he  translated  Virgil's  eclogues,  and  the  two  first 
satires  of  Juvenal,  into  English  verse,  both  which  were 
printed  at  London  in  1634,  in  8vo.  In  1634  he  was  sent 
to  Oxford,  and  entered  at  Magdalen-hall.  June  23,  1683, 
he  took  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  arts,  and  soon  after  was 
invited  to  be  master  of  the  school  of  his.  native  place,  but 
declined  it.  May  20,  1691,  he  took  his  degree  of  master 
jof  arts ;  and  the  magistrates  of  Gloucester  having  chosen 
him  master  of  the  free-school  of  St.  Mary  de  Crypt  in  that 
city,  be  went  and  settled  there,  and  was  much  esteemed  for 
his  diligence.  Falling,  however,  into  some  opinions  con- 
ceniing  the  Trinity,  different  from  those  commonly  re- 
ceived, and  having  expressed  his  thoughts  with  too  much 
freedom,  he  was  accused  of  heresy  :  and  being  summoned 
before  the  magistrates,  he  exhibited  in  writing  a  confes- 
sion, which  not  being  thought  satisfactory,  he  was  obliged 
to  make  another  more  explicit  than  the  former.  When  he 
had  fully  considered  this  doctrine,  he  comprised  it  in  twelve 
arguxxients  drawn,  as  he  pretended,  from  the  Scripture ; 

1  Biof .  VnirerseUe.-»>X)ict.  Hist, 


B  I  D  D  L  E.  5243 

wherein  the  commonly'-received  opinion,  touching  the  deity 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  attempted  to  be  refuted  *.     An  ac- 
quaintance who  had  a  copy  of  theoi,  having  shewed  them 
to  the  magistrates  of  Gloucester,  and  to  the  parliament 
committee  then  residing  there,  he  was  committed,  Dec.  2, 
1645,  to  the  common  gaol,  till  the  parliament  should  tak43 
cognizance  of  the  matter.     However,  an  eminent  person 
in  Gloucester  procured  his  enlargement,  by  giving  security 
for  his  appearance  when  the  parliament  should  send  for 
him.     June    1646,'  archbishop    Usher,    passing    through 
Gloucester  in  his  way  to  London,  had  a  conference  with 
our  author,  and  endeavoured,  but  in  vain,  to  convince  him 
of  his  errors.    .  Six  months  after  he  had  been  set  at  liberty 
he  was  summoned  to  appear  at  Westminster,  and  the  par- 
liament appointed  a  committee  to  examine  him  ;  before 
whom  he  freely  confessed,  that  he  did  not  acknowledge  the 
commonly-received   notion   of  the  divinity  of    the   Holy 
Ghost,  but,  however,  was  ready  to  hear  what  could  be 
opposed  to  him,  and,  if  he  could  not  make  out  his  opinioti 
to  be  true,  honestly  to  own  his  error.     But  being  wearied 
with  tedious  and  expensive  delays,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  sit 
Henr}'  Vane,  a  member  of  the  committee,  requesting  him 
either  to  procure  his  discharge,  or  to  make  a  report  of  his 
case  to  the  house  of  commons.  •  The  result  of  this  was,  biis 
being  committed  to  the  custody  of  one  of  their  officers^ 
which  restraint  continued  the  five  years  following.     He 
was  at  length  referred  to  the  assembly  of  divines  thea 
sitting  at  Westminster,  before  whom  he  often  appeared, 
and  gave  them  in  writing  his  twelve  arguments,  which 
were  published  the  same  year.    Upon  their  publication,  he 
was  summoned  to  appeat*  at  the  bar  of  the  house  of  com- 
mons ;  where  being  asked,  "  Whether  he  owned  this  trea- 
tise, and  the  opinions  therein  ?'Vhe  answered  in  the  affirma- 
tive.    Upon  which  he  was^^mitted  to  prison,  and  the 
house  ordered,   Sept.  6,   11^7,  that  the  book  should  be 
called  in  and  burnt  by  the  hangman,  and  the  author  be 
examined  by  the  committee  of  plundered  ministers.     But 
Mr.  Biddle  drew  a  greater  storm  upon  himself  by  two  tracts 
he  published  in  1648,  ^^  A  confession  of  faith  touching  the 

*  These  twelve  arguments,  &c.  were  were    answered    by    Matthew  Poole^ 

first  published  in  1647,  and  reprinted  M.  A.  the  learned  editor  of  Synopsis 

IB  1653,  and  lastly  in  1691,  4to,  iu  a  Criticorum,  in  his  Plea  for  the  God- 

coUection  of  Socinian  tracts,  entitled  head  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  &c.  aud  by 

.**  The  faith  of  one  God,  &c.''    They  others  at  home  and  abroad. 

R  2 


244  B  I  B  D  L  E. 

Holy  Trinity  according  to  the  Scripture ;"  and  "  The  tes- 
timonies of  Irensusi  Justin  Martyr,  TertuUian^  Novatianus, 
Theopbilus^  Origen,  also  of  Arnobius,  Lactantius,  Euse- 
bius,  Hilary,  and  Brightmani  concerning  that  one  God, 
and  the  persons  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  together  with  obser- 
vations on  the  same/'  As  soon  as  they  were  published^ 
the  assembly  of  divines  solicited  the  parliament,  and  pro- 
cured an  ordinance,  inflicting  death  upon  those  that  held 
opinions  contrary  to  the  received  doctrine  about  the  Tri- 
nity, and  severe  penalties  upon  those  who  differed  in  lesser 
matters.  Biddle,  however,  escaped  by  a  dissension  in  the 
parliament,  part  of  which  was  joined  by  the  army;  many 
of  whom,  both  oflSicers  and  soldiers,  being  liable  to  the 
severities  of  the  ordinance  above-mentioned,  it  therefore 
from  that  time  lay  unregarded  for  several  years.  Biddle 
had  now  more  liberty  allowed  him  by  his  keepers ;  who 
suffered  him,  upon  security  given,  to  go  into  Staffordshire^ 
where  he  lived  some  time  with  a  justice  of  peace,  who  en- 
tertained him  with  great  hospitality,  and  at  his  death  left 
him  a  legacy.  Seijeant  John  Bradshaw,  president  of  the 
council  of  state,  having  got  intelligence  of  this  indulgence 
granted  him,  caused  him  to  be  recalled,  and  more  strictly 
confined.  In  this  confinement  he  spent  his  whole  sub«- 
stance,  and  was  reduced  to  great  indigence,  till  he  was 
employed  by  Rc^er  Daniel  of  London,  to  correct  an  im- 
pression of  the  .  Septuagint  Bible,  which  jthat  printer  was 
about  to  publish :  and  this  gained  him  for  some  time,  a 
pomfortable  subsistence. 

In  1654  the  parliament  published  a  general  act  of  ob- 
livion, when  Biddle  was  restored  to  his  liberty.  This  he 
improved  among  those  friends  he  had  gained  in  London^ 
in  meeting  together  every  Sunday  for  expounding  the 
Scripture,  and  discoursing  thereupon ;  by  which  means 
his  opinions  concerning  the  unity  of  God,  Christ  his  only 
son,  and  his  holy,  spirit,  were  so  propagated,  that  the 
presbyterian  ministers  became  highly  offended.  The  same 
year  he  published  his  **  Twofold  scripture  catechism,'* 
which  was  ably  answered  by  Dr.  Owen  in  bis  *^  Vindicias 
Evangelical,''  Oxford,  1655;  but  a  copy  coming  into  the 
bands  of  some  of  the  members  of  Cromwell's  parliament, 
meeting  Sept.  3,  1654,  a  complaint  was  made* against  it 
in  the  house  of  commons.  Upon  this,  the  author  being 
brought  to  the  bar,  and  asked  ^^  Whether  he  wrote  that 
book?"  answered  by  asking,  ^^  Whether  it  seemed  reason- 


B  I  B  D  L  £.  **S 

ftble,  that  one  brought  before  a  judgment  seat  as  a  crimi* 
nal,    should  accuse  himself?*'     After  some  debates  and 
resolutions,  be  was,  Dec.   13,    committed  close  prisoner 
to  the  Gatehouse.     A  bill  likewise  was  ordered  to  bo 
brought  in  for  punishing  him ;  but,  after  about  six  montltt 
imprisonment,  he  obtained  his  liberty  at  the  court  of  king's 
bench,  by  due  course  of  law.    .  About  a  year  after,  another 
no  less  formidable  danger  overtook  him,  by  his  engaging 
in  a  dispute  with  one  Griffin,  an  anabaptist  teacher.    Many 
of  Griffin's  congregation  having  embraced  Biddle's  opinions 
concerning  the  Trinity,  he  thought  the  best  way  to  stop 
the  spreading  of  such  errors  would  be  openly  to  confute 
his  tenets.     For  this  purpose  he  challenges  Biddle  to  a 
public  disputation  at  his  meeting  in  the  Stone  chapel  in  ^ 
St.  Paul's  cathedral,  on  this  question,  "  Whether  Jesus 
Christ  be  the  most  high,   or  almighty  God  ?''     Biddle 
would  have  declined  the  dispute,  but  was  obliged  to  ac- 
cept of  it ;  and  the  two  antagonists  having  met  amidst  a 
numerous  audience.  Griffin  repeats  the  question,  asking 
^^  if  any  man « there  did  deny  that  Christ  was  God  most 
high  ?"  to  which  Biddle  resolutely  answered^  ^^  I  do  deny 
it:"  and  by  this  open  profession  gave  his  adversaries 'the 
opportunity  of  a  positive  and  clear  accusation,  which  they 
soon  laid  hold  of.     But  Griffin  being  baffled,  the  dispu* 
tation  was  deferred  till  another  day,  when  Biddle  was  to 
take  his  turn  of  proving  the  negative  of  the  question^ 
Meanwhile,  Griffin  and  his  party,  not  thinking  themselves 
a  match  for  our  author,  accused  him  of  fresh  blasphemies^ 
and  procured  an  order  from  the  protector  to  apprehend 
him,  July  the  3d  (being  the  day  before  the  intended  -se* 
cond  disputation),  and  to  commit. him  to  the  Compter. 
He  was  afterwards  sent  to  Newgate,  and  ordered  to  be 
tried  for  his  life  the  next  sessions,  on  the  ordinance  against 
blasphemy.     However,  the  protector  not  chusing  to  have 
him  either  condemned  or  absolved,  took  him  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  law,  and  detained  him  in  prison;  till  at  length, 
being  wearied  with  receiving  petitions  for  and  against  him, 
he  banished  him  to  St.  Mary's  castle,  in  the  isle  of  Scilly, 
where  he  was  sent  Oct,  1 655.  During  this  exile,  he  employed 
himself  in  studying  several  intricate  matters,  partioularlyi 
the  Revelation  of  St.  John,  and  after  bis  return  to  Lon« 
don,  published  an  essay  towards  explaining  it.    In  1658, 
the  protector,  through  the  intercession  of  many  friends, 
suffered  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to  be  granted  out  of  th« 


24fi  B  I.D  D  L  E. 

king's  benob,  wherry  the  prisoner  was  brought  back^  and^ 
nothing  being  laid  to  his  charge,  was  set  at  liberty.  Upon 
his  return  to  London,  he  became  pastor  of  an  independent 
meeting;  but  did  not  continue  long  in  town ;  for,  Crom« 
well  dying  Sept*  3,  1658,  his  son  Ricliard  called  a  par- 
liament, consisting  chiefly  of  presbyterians,  whoni,  of  all 
men,  Biddle  most  dreaded  :  he  therefore  retired  privately 
into  the  country.  This  parliament  being  soon  dissolved;^ 
he  returned  to  his  former  employment  till  the  restoration 
of  king  Charles  the  Second,  when  the  liberty  of  dissenters 
was  taken  awayy  and  their  meetings  punished  as  seditious. 
Biddle  then  restrained  himself  from  public  to  more  private 
assemblies^:  but>  Jiine  1,  1662,  he  was  seized  in  his 
^  lodging,  where  he  and  some  few  of  his  friends  had  met  for 
divine  worship^  and  was,  with  them,  carried  before  a  jus- 
tice of  peace,  who  committed  them  all  to  prison,  where  they 
lay  till  the  recorder  took  security  for  their  answering  to  the 
charge  brought  against  them  at  the  next  session.  But  the 
^urt  not  being  then  able  to  find  a  statute  whereon  to  form 
aay^criminal. indictment,  they  were  referred  to  the  session 
folkiwing^  and  proceeded  against  at  common  law;  each 
of  the  hearers  was  fined  20/. ;  Biddle,  100/.,  and  to  lie  in 
prison  till  paid.  By  his  confinement,  hovv^ever,  he  con- 
tracted a  disease  which  put  an  end  to  his  life.  Sept*  22^ 
1662,  in  the  47th  year  of  his  age.  He  was  buried  in  the 
cemetery  near  Old  Bethlem,  in  Moorfields ;  and  a  monu— 
meiit  was  erected '  over  his  grave,  with  an  inscription. 
Bis  life  was  published  in  Latin  at  London,  1682,  by  Mr. 
E^rrington;  of  the  Inner  Teknpie,- who  gives  him  &  high 
cfaamcter  for  ^iety  and  morals,  and  by  the  Rev."  Joshua 
Tou|min,*  in  1769,'8vo,  who  styks  him  the  Father  of  the 
Eriglish  Unitarians  J  ^ 

V  BIDERMANN  ^{JoHN  Theophilxjs,  or  Gottueb),  a 
iscry  learned  and  voluminous  Gefrman  writer,  was  born 
at  Naumberg,  April  ;5,  170$,  and  studied  at  Wittemberg, 
where  he  was  admitted  to  his  master's  degree  in  1717,  and 
Qoon  after  made  librarian  to  the  city.  In  1 732  he  returned 
to  Naamberg,  and  was  appointed  co-rector  of  the  pubHc 
school^  in  which  office  he  continued  for  nine  years,  and 
ill  1741,  on  4he  death  of  John  George  Scutz,  was  pro-* 
moted  to  be  rector.  In  1747,  the  place  of  rector  of  the 
Ctfhool  of  Ffiedburg  becoming  vacant,  he  was  invited  to 

1  Bioff.  Srit  and  lives  above-mentioned.— rAth,  Ox.  yoL  11. 


B  I  D  E  E  M  A  N  N.  »4T 

t 

fill  it,  and  accordingly,  with  the  conseixt  of  bis  patrons  at 
Naumberg,  he  removed  thither,  and  added  greatly  to  the 
reputation  of  the  schools  He  died  there  in  1772,  leaving 
a  vast  number  of  works  in  Latin  and  German,  published 
during  his  literary  career,  some  of  which  involved  him  in 
controversies  with  his  contemporaries,  carried  on  in  the 
German  journals  with  a  considerable  degree  of  animosity. 
Harles  enumerates  above  an  hundred  and  fifty  articles  of 
bis  publication,  separately,  or  in  the  literary  journals,  on 
subjects  of  sacred  criticism,  philology,  the  arts,  poetical 
criticism,  and  some  works  of  whim  and  imagination ;  the 
following  selection  will  probably  afford  a  sufficient  speci- 
men :  1 .  ^^  De. insolentia  titulorum  librariorum,?'  Naumberg, 
1743.  2.  "  De  religione  eruditorum,"  ibid.  1744.  3.  "  Me- 
telemata  philologica,"  ibid.  .1746,  with  a  continuation, 
1 748 — 50.    4,  *^  Cur  homines  montani  male  audiant  ?."  ibid. 

1748.  5.  ^^  De  Latinitate  maccaronica,'' ibid.  6.  ^^Delsop-* 
sephis,''  ibid.  7.  ^*  Fabulosa  de  septem  dormientibus  histo- 
ria," ibid.  1752.  8,"DearteObliviscendi,"ibid.l752.  9.<<De 
primis  rei  metalUcfB  inventpribus,''  ibid.  1763.  10.  *^  Db 
antiquitate  sodinarum  metallicarum,''  ibid.  1764.  11.  <^  Acta 
scholastica,"  1741,  &c.  8  vols,  a  collection  of  programmaii 
and  academtical  dissertatiotis,  continued  afterwards  under 
the  title  of  ^^  Nova  acta  schoUstica.'*  12.  *^  Sel^ta  scbow 
lastica,'*  1744 — 46,  2  vols.  13.  "  Otia  litteraria,"  Frei- 
burgfay  1751.      In  a  dissertation  which  he  published  in 

1749,  ^^  De  vita  inusica  adPlautiMostellarium,"  act  III. 
60.  2.  V.  40,  he  has  collected  all  that  the  ancients  and 
raodetfis  have  advanced  against  music  and  musicians ;  but, 
aa  this  was  founded  on  mistaking  the  sense  of  Plautus,  it 
ocsasioned  a  long  literary  contest,  in  which  Bidermann 
did  not  appear  to  the  best  advantage.  Harles,  indeed,  aU 
lows  that  yJhis. judgment  did  not  always  keep  pace  with  his^ 
learning.^ 

BIDLOQ  (Godfrey),  a  famous  anatomical  writer,*  was 
born  at  Amsterdam  March  12,  1649.  After  he  had  passed 
through  his  academical  studies,  be  applied  himself  to 
physic  and  anatomy,  and  took  his  degree  of  M.  D.  He 
soon  acquired  considerable  practice;  in  1688  was  made 
professor  of,  anatomy  at  the  Hague,  which  he  quitted  in 
1694  for  the  professorship  of  anatomy  and  chirargery  at 
Leyden  ;  and  afterwards  William  III.  of  England  appointed 

I.  Bio;.  Univt^-Harles  4«  Vitii  Pbl^ologorunii  vol.  II«— »Savii  PtOQiasUccnw; ; 


,t4S  B  I  D  L  O  O. 

him  his  physician,  which  he  accepted  on  condition  of 
holding  bis  professorship.  The  king  died  in  1702;  and 
Bidloo  returned  to  his  former  employments,  in  which  he 
had  been  interrupted  by  his  constant  attendance  upon  that 
prince.  He  died  at  Leyden,  April  1713,  being  64  years 
ef  age.  His  chief  work  was  his  "  Anatomia  humani  cor«- 
poris,*^  in  105  plates  drawn  by  Lairesse,  Amst.  1685,  fol. 
very  ^  beautiful,  but  not  entirely  correct,  a  circumstance 
which  being  pointed  out  by  the  celebrated  Ruyscb,  drew 
from  Bidloo  a  reply  not  very  temperate,  entitled  "  Vinw 
dicise  quorundam  Delineationum  Anatomicarum  contra  inep- 
tasAnimadversiones  F.  Ruyschii,  &c.^'  1 697, 4to.  Bidloo  also 
published :  1.  '^  A  letter  to  Anthony  Leeuwenhoek  concern- 
ing the  animals  which  are  sometimes  found  in  the  liver  of 
sheep  or  some  other  animals/'  This  was  published  in  Low 
Dutch,  Delft,  1698,  4to.  2;  ^'  Gulielmus  Cowper  criminis 
Xiterarii  citatus  coram  tribunali  nobiliss.  ampliss.  Societatis 
Britanno-RegiaB,"  Leyden,  1700, 4to,  pagg^  ^4.  This  piece 
contains  a  very  severe  accusation  against  Mr.  Cowper,  a 
surgeon  of  London,  and  fellow  of  the  royal  society.  Dr* 
Bidloo  being  informed  that  Mr.  Cowper  was  engaged  in 
translating  his  anatomy  into  English,  had  a  conversation 
with  him  while  he  was  at  London,  and  offered  him  that  in 
case  he  had  such  ^  design,  he  would  communicate  several 
additions  and  renuu*ks,  which  he  had  made  since  the  pub- 
lication of  that  work.  Mr.  Cowper  asitoed  him,  that  h<^ 
had  no  intention  of  that  kiiid,  as  he  did  not  understand 
Latin  sufficientlv  to  execute  such  a  task.  In  the  meim 
while  he  procured  three  hundred  copies  of  the  cuts  of 
Dr.^  Bidloo's  book  to  be  bought  for  him  in  Holland,  upon 
which  he  caused  the  references  to  be  written  verv  artfully, 
in  order  to  change,  and  add  to,  and  frequently  to  spoil 
the*doctor's  explication  of  the  cuts.  He  had,  likewise^ 
an  English  title-page  pasted  upon  the  Latin  one,  in  whicb^ 
instead  of  the  real  author's  name  his  own  was  inserted, 
and  he  placed  his  own  picture  in  the  room  of  Dr.  Bid- 
loo's. And  although  be  occasionally  mentioned  our 
author  in  the  preface,  and  added  a  few  cuts  at  the  end, 
^Bidloo  affirms,  that  the  preface  was  inserted  afterwards, 
when  Mr.  Cowper  found  that  this  piece  of  plagiarism 
would  be  resented.  He  observes,  also,  that  the  figures 
in  the  appendix  were  not  drawn  from  the  life,  since 
there  was  no  proportion  observed  in  them,  as  is  evident  to 
those  who  uttderstand  the  first  principles  of  anatomy.    Mn 


B  r.D  1  o  o.  «« 

Cowper  wrote  an  answer  to  this  piece^.wbereip.  he  charged 
Dr*  Bidloo  likewise  lyith  plagiarism,  aad  several  mistakea^ 
•which  he  had  oooimitjbed ;  and  this  affair  gave  occasiou  to 
bis  publishing  afterwards  his  great  work  upon  the  muscled 
3.  *^  Exercitatioaum  Anatomico-Chirurgicarum  Decades 
duse^'^  Leydeoj  1708,  4to.  4.  He  published  likewise  asniaU 
piece  upon  the  disease. of  which  king  William  IIL  of  Eng- 
land died«  5.  **  Letters^  of  the  Apostles  who  were  oiar- 
tyred/'  Amsterdam,  1698,  4to,  in  Low  Dutch  verse,  of 
which,  as  well  as  of  Latin,  he  was  very  fond,  and  was 
thought  to  have  succeeded*  He  supposes  in  this  book, 
that  the  apostles  wrote  these  letters  before  they  suffered 
martyrdom,  and  addressed  them  to  their  disciples,  in  order 
to  inform  them  of  their  last  desires,  and  to  instruct  them  in 
what  manner  they  ought  to  act  after  themselves  were  re- 
moved from  this  world.  There  was  published  at  Leyden, 
1719,  a  miscellaneous  collection  of  our  autbor*s  poems  iu 
Low  Dutch.  His  brother,  Lambert  Bidloo,  an  apotheoary 
at  Amsterdam,  was  the  author  of  some  Dutch  poetry,  and 
of  a  work  ^'  De  re  herbaria,"  printed  at  the  end  of  the 
*^  Catalogue  of  the  Garden  of  Amsterdam,"  by  Commelin»  ^ 
Ley  den,  1709,  12mo.  Lambert's  sou,  Nicholas,  became 
first  pt\ysician  to  the  Czar  Peter  I.,  and  inspector  of  the 
hospital  of  St.  Petersburgh. ' 

BIE  (Adrian  de),  aa  ingenious  artist,  was  bom  at 
Liere,  in  Brabant,  in  1594,  and  at  first  learned  the  rur 
diments  of  the  art  from  Wouter  Abts,  afterwards  became 
the  disciple  of  Rodolph  Schoof,  a  painter  of  considerable 
reputation  at  that  Ume  at  Paris,  and  when  he  had  prac- 
tised under  that  master  for  a  sufficient  time  to  form  his 
hand,  he  sought  to- obtain  still  greater  improvement  >  by 
travelling  to  Rome ;  and  there  he  spent  six  years  in  study-r 
ing  the  works  of  the  best  masters,  devoting  his  whol^  tim^ 
to  his  profession.  His  industry  was  then  rewarded  with 
proportionable  .success;  for  he  fou&d  encouragement 
among  the  most  honourable  persons  at  Rome,  and  in  every 
part  of  Italy.  His  penciling  was  so  exceedingly  neat,  and 
Lis  touch  and  colouring  so  very  delicate,  that  he  was  fre- 
4}ueDtly  employed  to  paint  on  jasper,  agate,  porphyry^ 
and  other  precious  materials.  His  master«piece  is  St.  Eloi^ 
in  the  principal  church  at  Liere.  The  time  of  his  death  is 
not  known  ;  his  son,  Cornelius  de  Bie,  wrote  the  lives  of 

A  Gen.  Dict«-«Moreru-oHall^rx  Bibl.  AnatoBi.«*Bios.  Vniverselle. 


550  B  1  E. 

the  paintersy  &c,  under  the  title  **  Guide  Cabinet,  &,c.^ 
in  Flemish  verse,  with  their  portraits. 

Another  D£  BIE  (Jacob  or  James),  who  was  bom  at 

Antwerp,  in  1581,  was  an  eminent  en  graver  of  an  tiquities^ 
*  coins,  &o.  and  published,  1.  "  Itoperatorum  Roman.  Nu- 
mismata,"  from  Julius  Caesar  to  Heraclius,  Ant.  1615, 
4to»  2.  "  Numismata  Grseciae,"  ibid,  fol.  3.  "  La  France 
Metallique,  &c."  Paris,  1636  j  also  the  portraits  for  Me- 
^eeray's  history,  and  other  works  of  a  similar  kind.  His 
style  resembles  that  of  the  CoUaerts,  and  he  drew  cor« 
rectly,  and  executed  his  plates  entirely  with  the  graver, 
in  a  neat  clWr  determined  manner,,  and  upon  the  whole, 
his  •  prints  may  rank  witV  those  of  the  best  early  Flemish 
masters. ' 

-  BIEL  (Gabriel),  one  of  the  ablest  scholastic  divines  of 
his  time,  was  bom  at  Spire,  and  preached  with  great  re- 
putation at  Mentz,  until  Eberharaj  duke  of  Wittemberg, 
having  founded  the  university  of  Tubingen,  invited  him  thi- 
ther in  1477,  to  BIl  the  theological  chair.  Towards  the  end 
of  his  days  he  retired  to  a  convent  of  regular  canons,  where 
,  hedifed  very  old.  In  1495.  His  principal  writings  were*: 
1.-.^*  CoUeotorium  super  libros  sent^ntiarum  G.  Occami/* 
Tubingen j  1,501,  fol.  2.  **  Lectura  super  canonem 
Missae,'*  Rutlingen,  1488,  fol.;  and  S.  "  Sacri  canonis 
Misste,  &c.  expositio,"  Tubingen,  .14^9,  fol.,  and  thrice 
reprinted.  Be  is-  also  said  to  have  Written  **De  moneta- 
fatn  potestate  simul  et  utilitate,"  Nuremberg^  1542,  Co- 
logn,  1574,  a:nd  Lydns,   1605.* 

BIEL  (John  Christian),  a  Lutheran  divine  of  the  last 
(century,  was  born  at  Brunswick,  in  1687,  and  died  in 
11^45.  He  was  the  author  of  a  great  many  theological  dis- 
sertations inserted  in  Ugoiin's  **  Thesaiir.  ahtiquitat.  sacr." 
and  of  a  valuable  work  published  after  his  death  by  E.  H. 
Mut2?enbecher,  under  the  title  of  ^*  Novus  The^urus  Phi- 
lologicus,  sive*  Lexicon  in  LXX.  et  alios  interpretes  et 
scriptoresapocryphosVeteris  Testament!,"  Hague,  1779 — 
80, 3  vols.  8vo,  to  which  Schleussrier  added  the  suppletnents.* 
BIELFELD  (James  Frederick  Baron  de),  was  born 
et  Hamburgh  March  31,  1717.  In  a  journey  which  be 
made  to  Brunswick,  he  became  acquainted  with  Frede- 

';  X  Dcsobamps. — Pilkingtop.  •— Strutt  —  Biojg.  Unir,— rFoppen,  ^b^  Belg,  -^se 
SavU  bnomasticon  in  Biaeus. 

«  Dupin.— rMoreri.— ^Freheri  Theatrum. — Saxii  Onomast. 

I  Biog.  Uuiyerielle.— Sazii  OnomaaticoB. 


B  I  E  L  F  E  L  D.       \  251 

rick  II.  then  prince  royal,  who,  on  coming  to  the  throne, 
took  him  into  his  service,  and  sent  him,  as  secretary  of 
legation,  with  count  de  Truchses,  Prussian  ambassador  to 
the  court  of  St  James's,  but  discovering  that  the  baron^s 
talents  were  not  calculated  for  diplomatic  affairs,  he,,  in 
1745,  appointed  him  preceptor  to  prince  Augustus  Fer- 
dinand his  brother;  after  that,  in  1747,  curator  of  the 
universities,  and  in  1748  he  created  him  a  baron,  with 
the  rank  of  privy-counsellor.  The  last  years  of  his  life  he 
spent  in  study  and  retirement  at  Treban,  in  the  country 
of  Altenburgh,  where  he  died  April  5,  1770.     He  wrote. 

1.  "  Institutions  politiques,"  1759 — 60,  3  vols.  4to  ;  1762^ 
4  vols.  12mo,  the  only  work  from  bis  pen  that  retained  its 
reputation  on  the  continent.  Even  the  empress  Cathe- 
rine 11,  of  Russia,    condescended  to  write   notes  on  it 

2.  "  Progres  des  Allemands  dans  les  belles-lettres,"  1752 
and  1768,  8vo.  3.  ^^Amusemens  dramatiques,"  Leyden^^ 
1768,  2  vols.  12mo,  of  no  great  merit  4.  "  Lettres  fa-? 
milieres,"  1763,  and  "  Erudition  universelle,"  1768,  4  vols, 
both  translated  into  English  by  Dr.  Hooper.  The  baron 
also  conducted  for  about  three  years  a  periodical  publica- 
tion  called  "  The  Hermit,"  and  is  by  some  the  reputed 
author  of  the  '^  Memoirs  of  the  duchess  of  Hanover,  spouse 
to  (Jeorge  I."  which  is  more  generally  attributed  to  baron 
Polnitz.  * 

BIENNE  (John),  in  Latin  Benenatus,  was  a  book- 
seller and  printer  at  Paris,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
celebrated  for  the  beauty  and  correctness  of  his  editions. 
He  became  a  printer  in  1566,  and  m^arried  in  that  year  the 
widow  of  Morel,  likewise  a  Greek  and  Latin  printer,  of 
distinguished  reputation.  Bienne  by  this  alliance  be* 
<:oming  possessed  of  Morel's  printing-house,  completed 
the  works  which  his  predecessor  had  begun,  particularly 
the  Greek  Demosthenes  of  1570,  fcl. ;  and  published  also 
various  very  excellent  editions,  particularly  "  Lucretius,'* 
by  Lambin,  1570,  4to ;  "  Synesii  Hymni,"  1570,  8vo ; 
and  "Theodoretus  de  providentia,"  Gr.  and  Lat.  1569, 
8vo»  He  died  Feb.  15,  1 588.  It  is  said  he  left  a  daughter 
so  accomplished  in  Greek  and  Hebrevc,  as  to  be  able  to 
conduct  the  printing  of  works  in  these  languages.' 

I  Bk»g.  Universelle.^-Saxii  Onomastk^n. 

^  JilQreri.—Maittaire  AnnaU— -Biog.  Upiverselle. 


253  BIERKANDEft. 

BIERKANDER  (Claude),  an  able  naturalist,  and  a 
clergyman  at  Gresbach  in  Westgothland,  was  born  in  17  SB^ 
and  died  in  1795.  He  published  in  the  Memoirs  of  the 
Academy  of  Stockholm,  of  which  be  was  a  member,  a 
great  number  of  papers  on  insects,  which  he  had  made  hisi 
particular  study,  and  on  the  transpiration  of  plants,  the 
burning  of  vegetables,  the  effect  of  cold  on  vegetables,^ 
&C.  all  in  the  Swedish  language. ' 

BIFIELD.     SeeBYFIELD. 

BIGLAND  (Ralph),  garter  principal  king  at  arms,  waa 
born  in  1711,  the  son  of  Richard  Bigland,  of  Kendal^  in 
Westmoreland,  the  descendant  of  a  family  originally 
*  seated  at  Bigland,  Lancashire.  The  subject  of  this,  brief 
notice,  after  going  through  all  the  offices  in  the  College  of 
Arms,  and  executing  also  the  office  of  registrar,  to  which 
he  was  appointed  in  1763,  became  the  head  of  it  in  1780y 
but  enjoyed  his  elevation  a  very  short  time,  dying  in 
James-street,  Bedford -row,  March  27,  17^4.  He  was 
buried  with  his  parents  at  Stepney.  He  was  deservedly 
esteemed  and  regretted,  as  a  man  of  much  skill  in  heraldry 
and  other  branches  of  antiquities.  The  great  collections 
he  had  made  for  a  history  of  Gloucestershire  were  intended 
to  have  been  arranged  and  given  by  him  to  the  public^ 
and  have  since  been  partly  published  by  his  son  Richard 
Bigland,  of  Frocester,  esq.  under  the  title  of  ^^  Historical, 
monumental,  and  genealogical  collections,  relative  to  the 
county  of  Gloucester,"  &c.  fol.  1792,  to  which  a  second 
volume  will  probably  be  added  by  Mr.  Nichols.  * 

BIGNE  (Gace  i>e  la),  and  not  de  la  Vigne,  as  be  is 
generally  called  by  writers  who  have  occasion  to  name  him 
[for  it  is  thus  he  gives  his  own  name  in  his  '^  Roman  des 
Oiseaux^'],  was  born  of  a  noble  family  of  the  diocese  of 
Bayeux,  about  1428.  He  was  chaplain  to  king  John,  and 
followed  that  prince  into  England  after  the  battle  of  Poic-» 
tiers.  Being  at  Rocbefort  in  1459,  he  began  a  poem  on 
the  chace,  entitled  ^^  Le  Roman  des  Oiseaux,,^^  which  he 
finished  on  his  return  to  France.  This  he  did  at  the  com* 
mand  of  the  king  for  the  instruction  of  his  son  Philip  duke 
of  Burgundy.  The  abb£  Goujet  attributes  this  poem  to 
Gaston  de  Foix,  from  its  being  printed  at  the  end  of  the 
"  Miroir  de  la  Chasse"  by  that  prince,  but  greatly  dif^ 
ferent;  from  the  manuscripts.     Gaston's  work  printed  by 

*  Biog.  UniVerMlle.  «  l^oble^f  Coll.  of  Anns, 


EIGNE.  251 

Trepperel  at  Paris,  fol.  without  a  date,  and  again  in  1520, 
consists  of  two  parts,  the  first  Gaston^s,  and  the  second 
by  Bigne.  Bigne  is  supposed,  from  some  passages  in  his 
work,  to  have  been  alive  in  1475.  The  personages  in  this 
poem,  or  romance,  are  allegorical,  and  dispute  which 
species  of  the  chace  has  the  pre-eminence,  appealing  to 
the  king,  who,  after  having  advised  with  bis  counsellors, 
wisdom,  reason,  and  truth,  (not  very  usually  called  in) 
sends  away  the  disputants  perfectly  satisfied.  The  style  is 
easy,  and  the  author's  quaintness  will  beagreeable  to  the 
lovers  of  early  poetry.  * 

BIGNE   (Marguerin  de  la),  a  priest,    of  the  same « 
family  with  the  preceding,  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne,  and 
dean  of  the  church  of  Mans,  was  born  in  1 546  at  Berniefes- 
le-»Patry,  and  studied  at  the  college  of  Caen.     He  pub- 
lished in  1575  a  '^  3ibliotheca  patrum,''  8  voU.  folio,  which 
he  re-published  in  1589,  9  vols,  being  the  first  that  under^ 
took  a  work  of  that  kind.  I'he  most  copious  edition  we  have 
of  it  is  in  27  vols,  folio,  Lyons,  1677.     There  is  also  one  in 
16  vols,  folio,  of  1644,  which  is  much  esteemed,  as  con* 
taining  the  lesser  Greek  fathers.     Another  was  published 
at   Cologne  in    1694,    and   Fere   Philip  de   St.  Jacques 
gave  an  abridgment  of  it  in  1719,  2  vols.  fol.    To  the 
Biblioth.  pp.  are  generally  added,  '<  Index  locorum  scrip* 
turs  saorae,''  Genoa,  1707,  fol.,  and  the  ^'  Apparatus  of 
Nourri,'*  Paris,  1703,  and  1715,  2  vols.  fol.     Such  is  the 
completest  edition.     La  Bigne  distinguished  himself  also 
by  his  harangues  and  his  sermons.     He  gave  a  collection 
of  synodal  statutes  in  1578,  8vo.  and  an  edition  of  Isidore 
of  Seville,  in  1580,  fol.     He  was  a  very  studious  man; 
and,  having  ^ot  into  some  disputes  that  were  referred  to 
the  magistrates  of  Bayeux,  he  rather  chose  to  give  up  his 
benefices  than  his  literary  pursuits.     He  retired  to  Paris, 
where  it  is  supposed  be  died,  about  1590.  * 

BIGNICOURT  (Simon  de),  a  counsellor  of  the  pre- 
sidial  of  Rheims,  was  born  there  in  1709,  and  died  at 
Paris  in  1775.  He  was  well  versed  in  ancient  and  modern 
literature.  We  have  by  him,  1.  "  A  collection  of  Latin 
and  French  poems,*'  1767,  12|mo;  which  are  short,  and 
in  an  easy  and  natural  style.  His  epigrams  are  very  much 
in  the  manner  of  the  chevalier  de  Cailli ;  and  he  has  ont 

^  Biog.  UDirerselle. 

^  Diet,  Hiit.->JBiof .  Vai?.«i*Cbtttfcpie.— 5azii  Onomait 


2S4  B  I  G  N  I  C  O  U  R  T. 

singulalrity  in  all  his  poetical  productions^  that  he  has  not 
one  piece,  either  in  Latin  or  French,  that  exceeds  twenty- 
lines.  Some  of  bis  countrymen  have  compared  them  to 
those  of  Catullus,  and  several  writers  in  the  journals  have 
extolled  them  as  productions  of  extraordinary  merit.  But 
M.  Bignicourt  is  heist  known  for  his  3.  "  Pens^es  et  reflec- 
tions philosophiques,"  1755,  12mo.  This  work,  which 
was  afterwards  published  under  rfie  title  of  "  L'homme  du 
Monde  &  L'homme  de  Lettres,'*  has,  however,  its  admirers 
and  its  censurers,  with  respect  to  the  method  of  writing  set 
phrases,  and  giving  them  as  thoughts  and  maxims.  ^ 

BIGNON  (Jerome),  a  French  writer,  was  born  at  Paris 
Aug.  24,.  1589.     His  father  took  the  care  of  his  education 
upon  himself,  and  taught  him  the  languages,  philosophy, 
mathematics,  civil  law,  and  divinity.     Jerome  acquired  so 
much  knowledge  in  a  very  short  time,  that  at  ten  years 
of  age  he  published  his  description  of  the  Holy  Land, 
entitled  "  Chorographie,    ou    Description   de   la  Terre- 
Sainte,"  Paris,   1600,  12mo;    and.  three  years  after,  two 
other  works,  which  gained  him  great  reputation  in  France. 
The  first  was,  "  Discours  de  la  ville  de  Rome,  principales 
antiquitez   &  singularitez  d'icelle,"   IGOl,  8vo;  the  other 
work  is  "Traits  sommaire  de  Pelection  des  papes,"   1605, 
8vo,  in  which  piece  he  gives  an  account  of  the  different 
manner  of  electing  the  popes  formerly.  Henry  IV.  appointed 
him  page  of  honour  to  the  dauphin,  afterwards  Lewis  XI IL 
He  wrote  also  a  treatise  on  the  precedency  of  the  kings  of 
France,  entitled  "  De  Texcellence  des  rois  &  du  royaume 
de  France,  traitant  de  lapreseance&des  prerogatives  des  rois 
des  France  par  dessus  tous  les  autres,  &  de  causes  d'icelles." 
This  book  was  written  in  order  to  confute  what  Diego 
Valdes,  counsellor  of  the  royal  chamber  of  Granada,  had 
published  in  favour  of  the  precedency  of  the  kings  of  Spain, 
under  the  title  of  "  De  dignitate  reguiA  Hispaniae,"  Gra- 
nada, 16*02,  fol.     This  he  dedicated  to  the  king,  who  or** 
dered  him  to  continue  his  researches  upon  the  subject; 
but  the  death  of  this  prince  interrupted  his  design,  and 
made  him  leave  the  court ;  whither  he  was  soon  recalled 
at  the  solicitation  of  Mr.  le  Fevre,   preceptor  to  Lewis 
XIIL  and  continued  there  till  the  death  of  bis  friend.     la 
1613  he  published  an  edition  of  the  Formulae  of  MarcuU 
phus  ;    and  the  year  following  took  a  journey  to  Italy, 
where  Jie  received  many  marks  of  esteem  from  Paul  V. 

1  Diet.  Hist.— Biog.  UniTerselle. 


^j 


B  I  G  N  O  N.  iSi 

Father  Paul  likewise  being  pleased  with  his  conversation^ 
detained  him  some  time  at.Vepice. 

Upon  his  return  from  his  travels,  he  applied  himself  to 
the  practice  of  the  bar  with  great  success.  His  father  pro- 
cured for  him  the  post  of  advocate  .general  in  the  grand 
council ;  which  office  he  discharged  with  sucb  reputation, 
that  the  king  nominated  him  some  time  after  counsellor  of 
state,  and  at  last  advocate  general  in  the  parliament.  Iti 
1641  he  resolved  to  confine  himself  entirely  to  his  business 
in  the  council  of  state,  and  therefore  resigned  his  place  of 
advocate-general  to  Mr.  Briquet  his  son-in-law.  The  year 
following  he  was  appointed  the  king's  librarian.  His  son^ 
in-law  dying  jn  1645,  he  was  obliged  to  resume  his  post 
of  advocate- general,  in  order  to  preserve  it  for  his  son* 
He  had  also  a  considerable  share  in  the  ordinance  of  the 
year  1639;  and  he  discharged  with  great  integrity  va- 
rious commissions  with  which  he  was  intrusted  at  different 
times.  Queen  Anne  of  Austria,  during  her  regency,  sent 
for  him  to  council  upon  the  most  important  occasions.  Ho 
adjusted  the  differences  between  Mr.  d'Avaux  and  Mr. 
Servien,  plenipotentiaries  at  Munster;  and  he  had  a  share,^ 
with  M.  de  Brienue  and  d'Emery,  in  making  the  treaty  of 
alliance  with  the  states  of  Holland  in  1649.  He  was  ap^ 
pointed,  in  1651,  to  regulate  the  great  affair  of  the  suc- 
cession of  Mantua;  and  in  1654,  to  conclude  the  treaty 
with  the  Hans  Towns.  Mr.  Bignon  died,  aged  66y  on  the 
7th  of  April,  1656,  of  an  asthma,  with  which  he  was 
seized  the  autumn  before.  In  1757,  the  abb6  Perau  pub-» 
lished  Bignon's  life,  two  parts,  12mo. — His  grandson, 
John  Paul  Bignon,  was  librarian  to  the  king,  a  man  of  great 
erudition,  and  a  writer  of  great  powers  of  invention,  if  he 
could  compose,  as  we  are  told  he  did,  four  panegyrics  on 
St  Louis,  all  different,  two  of  which  were  pronounced  the 
same  day,  one  at  the  French  academy,  and  the  other  at 
the  academy  of  inscriptions^  He  wrote  also  "  Vie  de 
Francois  Levesque,''  1684,  12mo;  and  *' Les  Aventures 
d'Abdalla,  fils  d'Hanif.'*  1713,  2  vols.  12mo.  often  re- 
printed. He  bad  also  a  hand  in  the  medallic  history  of  the 
reign  of  Louis  XIV.  and  the  Journal  des  Savans.  He 
warmly  patronized  Tournefort,  who  named  a  plant  after 
hin;i  Bignonia.     He  died  May  14,  1743.  ^ 

^  Gen.  Diet.— Moreri.— Dup'm.— PerrauU's  Tltfmnnes  Illustres. — B»rliet  Ja(c- 
toeni,  &  Les  £afan»  Celebres.— Saxil  Osomast . — iik>^.  U#iv. 


25«  BIGOT;: 

.  BIGOT  (Emeric,  or  Emery),  an  eminent  patron  of  li- 
terature,  was  born  at  Rouen  Jn  1626,  of  an  ailcient  family, 
and  having  no  inclination  to  rise  in  the  offices  of  magis- 
tracy, as  many  of  bis  ancestors  had  done,  nor  to  enter 
into  the  church,  be  determined  to  devote  his  time  and 
fortune  to  the  study  and  advancement  of  polite  literature. 
His  father,  dean  of  the  court  of  aids  in  Normandy,  left 
him  a  library  of  six  thousand  volumes,  including  upwards 
of  five  hundred  manuscripts,  to  which  he  made  so  many- 
additions,  that  at  his  death  it  was  valued  at  forty  thousand 
franks;  and  that  it  might  not  be  scattered,  he  entailed  it 
on  his  family,  with  handsome  funds  for  the  support  and 
enlargement  of  it.  It  was,  however,  sold  in  July  1706^ 
anid  the  Catalogue,  which  was  printed,  is  in  considerable 
request  among  bibliographers.  During  his  life-time  this 
library  was  the  resort  of  a  number  of  men  of  letters,  wha 
held  frequent  meetings  here,  in  which  Bigot  presided* 
His  travels  in  Holland,  England,  Germany,  and  Italy,  pro- 
cured him  the  acquaintance  and  correspondence  of  most  of 
the  literati  of  Europe,  who  frequently  consulted  him,  and 
paid  great  regard  to  his  opinions.  His  sole  passion  was  to 
contribute  by  bis  wealth  atid  studies  to  the  perfection  and 
illustration  of  the  best  Greek  and  Latin  authors,  and  he 
employed  these  advantages  with  the  utmost  libendity  and 
modesty.  Having  discovered  in  the  library  at  Florence, 
the  Greek  text  of  the  ^^  Life  of  St.  Chrysostom  by  Palla* 
dius,  he  published  it  at  Paris  in  1680^  4to,  with  some 
other  ancient  Greek  remains,  hitherto  in  manuscript,  the 
whole  accompanied  with  a  Latin  translation  by  Ambrose  of 
Camaldoli.  To  this  he  added  St.  Cbryso^tom^s  epistle  to 
Cesarius,  but  it  being  discovered  that  this  was  an  attack 
on  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  the  licensers  refused 
its  being  published,  and  caused  the  leaves  on  which  it  was 
printed  to  be  cut  out.  A  copy  of  these  leaves,  however^ 
having  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  (afterwards  archbishop) 
Wake,  was  published  by  him  in  his  ^<  Defence  of  the  Ex* 
position  of  the  Doctrine  of  the  Church  of  England  against 
the  exceptions  of  M.  de  Meaux,  &c.''  Lond.  1686,  4to. 
In  this  Wake  has  given  a  curioys  account  not  only  of  the 
suppression  of  this  letter,  but  of  the  controversy  to  which 
it  gave  rise  in  archbishop  Cranmer^s  time.  Du  Pin  says^ 
that  after  Iiigot^s  death,  some  of  his  literary  correspondence 
wfts  published  ;  but  this  appears  a  mistake,  if  we  except  a 
letter  of  his  written^  in  1672,  to  the  bishop  of  Trulie 


B  I  G^O  T.  2S1 

against  the  abbe  de  St  Cyran's  book  *'  Le  Cas  Royal/'  and 

printed  at  Basil  in  1690.  Menage  arid  Heinsius  were 
among  his  most  intimate  friends,  and  such  was  bis  general 
knowledge  and  communicative  disposition,  that  he  was 
consulted  by  every  one  fond  of  literary  history  and  anec- 
dote.    He  died  Oct.  18,   1689.* 

BILFINGER  (George  Bernard),  an  eminent  German 
philosopher  and  statesman,  was  born  at  Camstadt  in  Wir- 
temberg,  Jan.  23,  1693  ;  his  father  was  a  Lutheran  mini- 
ster. By  a  singular  hereditary  constitution  in  this  family, 
Bilfinger  was  born  with  twelve  fingers  and  eleven  toes, 
which,  in  his  case,  is  said  to  have  been  remedied  by  ana- 
putation  when  he  was  an  infant.  From  his  earliest  years, 
he  showed  an  uncommon  capacity  for  study,  joined  to  a 
retired  and  thinking  turn  of  mind.  Happening,  when 
studying  at  Tubingen,  to  learn  mathematics  in  the  works 
of  Wolf,  he  imbibed  likewise  a  taste  for  tjie  sceptical  phi- 
losophy of  that  writer,  and  for  the  system  of  Leibnitz, 
which  for  a  time  took  off  his  attention  from  his  other  stu- 
dies. When  entered  on  his  theological  course,  he  found 
himself  disposed  to  connect  it  with  his  new  ideas  on  philo- 
sophy, and  with  that  view  wrote  a  treatise,  "  De  Deo, 
anima,  et  mundo,'*  which  procured  him  considerable  fame^ 
and  was  the  cause  of  his  being  chosen  preacher  at  the 
castle  of  Tubingen,  and  repeater  in  the  school  of  divinity. 
But  fancying  Tubingen  a  theatre  too  contracted,  he  ob- 
tained of  one  of  his  friends  a  supply  of  money,  in  1719, 
which  enabled  him  to  go  to  Halle  to  study  more  particu- 
larly under  Wolf  himself.  This,  however,  did  not  pro- 
duce all  the  good  consequences  expected.  When  after 
two  years  he  returned  to  Tubingen,  the  Wolfian  philoso- 
phy was  no  longer  in  favour,  his  patrons  were  cold,  his 
lessons  deserted,  himself  unable  to  propagate  his  new  doc- 
trines, and  his  promotion  in  the  church  was  likely  to  suffer. 
In  this  unpleasant  state  he  remained  about  four  years, 
when,  by  Wolf's  recommendation,  he  received  an  invita- 
tion from  Peter  L  to  accept  the  professorship  of  logic  and 
metaphysics  in  the  new  academy  at  St.  Petersburgh.  Thi- 
ther accordingly  he  went  in  1725,  and  was  received  with 
great  respect,  and  the  academical  memoirs  which  he  had 
occasion  to  publish  increased  his  reputation  in  no  small 
degree.     The  academy  of  sciences  of  Paris  having  about, 

A  Gen.  Diet— M«reri.-- BAiltot  Jogemeiis  des  Savras,^— Bio;.  tUairanetk,— • 
.  SmjM  OnoiUastiQOn. 

Vol.  V.  S 


258  BI^FINGER. 

"-  .  '  . 

5  •  .  '  ♦ 

that  time  proposed  for  solution  the  famous  problem,  on 
the  cause  of  gravity,  Bilfinger  carried  off  the  prize,  which 
,  was  one  thousand  crowns.  This  made  his  name  be  known 
in  every  part  of  Europe,  and  the  duke  Charles  of  Wirtem- 
berg  having  been  reminded  that  he  was  one  of  his  subjects, 
immediately  recalled  him  home.  The  court  of  Russia, 
after  in  vain  endeavouring  to  retain  him,  granted  him  a 
pension  of  four  hundred  florins,  and  two  thousand  as  the 
reward  of  a  discovery  be  had  made  in  the  art  of  fortifica- 
tion. He  quitted  Petersburgh  accordingly  in  1731,  and 
'being  re-established  at  Tubingen,  revived  the  reputation  •* 
of  that  school  not  only  by  his  lectures,  but  by  many  salu- 
tary changes  introduced  in  the  theological  class,  which  he 
effected  without  introducing  any  new  opinions.  His 
greatest  reputation,  however,  rests  on  his  improvements 
in  natural  philosophy  and  mathematics,  and  his  talents 
as  an  engineer  seem  to  have  recommended- him  to  the 
promotion  which  the  duke  Clxarles  Alexander  conferred 
upon  him.  He  had  held  many  conversations  with  Bilfinger 
on  the  subject  of  fortifications,  and  wished  to  attach  him 
to  government  by  appointing  him  a  privy-councillor  in 
1735,  with  unlimited  credit  For  some  time  be  refused  a 
'situation  which  he  thought  himself  not  qualified  to  fill,  but 
when  he  accepted  it,  his  first  care  was  to  acquire  the  know- 
ledge necessary  for  a  member  of  administration,  endea« 
trouring  to  procure  the  most  correct  information  respecting 
the  political  relations,  constitution,  and  true  interests  of 
the  country.  By  these  means,  he  was  enabled  very  es- 
sentially to  promote  the  commerce  and  agriculture  of  his 
country,  and  in  other  respects  to  improve  her  natural  re- 
sources, as  well  as  her  political  connections,  and  he  i$» 
^till  remembered  as  one  of  the  ablest  statesmen  of  Ger^ 
many.  The  system  of  fortification  which  he  invented  i& 
yet  known  by  his  name,  and  is  now  the  chief  means  of 
'  preserving  it,  as  he  died  unmarried,  at  Stuttgard,  Feb.  1 8, 
1750.  He  is  said  to  have  been  warm  in  his  friendships, 
but  somewhat  irascible ;  his  whole  time  during  his  latter 
years  was  occupied  in  his  official  engagements,  except  an 
hour  in  the  evening,  when  he  received  visits,  and  his  only 
enjoyment,  when  he  could  find  leisure,  was  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  his  garden.  To  his  parents  he  was  particularly  af- 
fectionate, and  gratefully  rewarded  all  those  who  bad 
^  assisted  him  in  his  dependent  state.  His  principal  works 
are :  1.  ^^  Disputatio  de  barmoma  praestabilita,^^  Tubili^* 


B  I  L  F  I  N  G  E  ».  25^ 

giit&n>  1721;  4to.  2.  <^  De  harmonia  animi  et  corporis' 
humaoi  maximd  prsestabiiita  commentatio  b}rpothetica,'* 
Francfort)  1723,  8vo.  This  was  inserted  among  the  pro«^ 
hibited  books  by  the  court  of  Rome  in  1734.  3.  f*  De 
origine  et  permissione  Mali,  &c/'  ibid.  1724,  8vo.  4.  '*  Spe^ 
ciinen  doctrins  veterum  Sinarum  moralis  et  poiiticse/* 
ibid.  1724,  8vo.  5.  ^^  Dtssertatio  historico-catoptrica  d^ 
speculo  Archimedis,"  Tubingen,  1725,  4to.  6.  **  Pilu^ 
cidationes  philosophical  de  Deo,  anima,  &c."  before 
mentioned,  ibid.  1725,  4to.  7.  '^  Bilfingeri  et  Holmamvi 
epistolsB  de  harmonia  praestabilita,"  1728,  4to.  g.  "  Dis- 
putatio  de  natura  et  legibus  studii  in  theologica  Thetici,** 
ibid.  1731,  4to.  9.  "  Disputatio  de  cultu  JDei  rationali,'* 
ibid.  1731.  10.  *<  Notse  breves  in  Spinosae  methodum 
explicandi  scriptural,**  ibid.  1732,  4to.  11.  "  De  myste* 
riis  Christians  fidei  generatim  spectatis  sermo,*-  ibid.  1732, 
4to.  12.  "La  Citadelle  coup6e,*V  Leipsic,  1756,  4to. 
13.  ^^  Elementa  physices,"  Leipsic,  1742,  8to;  besides 
many  papers  in  the  memoirs  of  the  Petersburgh  academy, 
of  which,  as  well  as  of  that  of  Berlin,  he  was  a  member.  ^ 

BILGUER  (John  Ulric  de),  a  surgeon,  born  at  Coire 
in  Swisserland,  in  1720,  studied  at  Strasburgh  and  Paris, 
and  afterwards  served  in  the  Prussian  army,  and  became 
surgeon -general.  He  received  a  doctor's  degree  at  Halle 
ih  1761,  and  was  admitted  a  member  of  various  learned 
societies ;  and  to  these  honours  the  emperor  of  Germany 
added  titles  of  nobility,  of  which,  however,  Bilguer  Aever 
made  any  use.  His  fame  abroad,  as  well  as  in  this  coun* 
try,  principally  rests  on  his  famous  inaugural  thesis,  en- 
titled, **  Dissertatio  inauguralis  medicorchirurgica  de  mem^ 
)>rorum  Amputatione  rarissime  administrandaaut  quasi.abro* 
ganda,*' Berlin,  1761,4to.  This  Tissot  translated  into  French^ 
and  enriched  it  with  notes,  under  the  title  **  Dissertation  sur 
rinutiUt6  de  P Amputation,'*  Paris,  176.4,  12mo;  from  the 
Latin  itwas  translated  into  English,  1761.  The  author's  ob- 
ject is  to  prove Jiow  very  seldom  amputation  can  be  necessary, 
particularly  in  the  case  of  gun-shot  wounds  received  in  battle. 
^he  first  able  answer  to  this  mistaken  effort  of  humuanity  was 
by  M.Martiniere,  principal  surgeon  to  the, French  king;  our 
eminent  surgeon  Pott  has  likewise  shewn  its  danger;  but 
in  1780  Bilguer's  doctrine  found  a  supporter  in  Dr.  Kirk- 
bad  of  Ediphurgb,  in  his  ^^  Thoughts  oq  Amputation.*' 

S  2 


ieo  B  I  L  G  tJ  E  R. 

Bilgtfer  published  also,  in  German,  "  Instructions  for  the 
practice  of  Surgery  in  army-hospitals,*'  Leipsic,  1763; 
•'  Advice  to  Hypochondriacs,"  '&c.     He  died  in  1796.' 

BILLAUT  (Adam),  known  under  the  nameof  Maitrb 
Adam,  a  joiner  at  Nevers,  about  the  close  of  the  reign  of 
Louis  XIII.  and  ^the  beginning  of  that  of  Louis  XIV.  was 
called  by  the  poets  of  his  time  Le  Virgile  au  rabot     He 
made  verses  amidst  his  tools  and  his  bottles.     Cardinal 
Richelieu  and  the  duke  of  Orleans  settled  pensions  on  him, 
and  Corneille  was  among  his  panegyrists.  His  **  Chevilles,'* 
1644,  4to;    his  "  Villebrequin,"  1663;    his  «  Rabot,''  m 
12mo,  &c.  had  a  great  run.     Among  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  dull  frivolities  we  meet  with  some  happy  lines.     He 
died  in  1662  at  Nevers,  which  he  never  could  be  brought 
to  quit  for  a  lodging  at  Versailles.     He  had  a  just  notion  of 
greatness,  and  was  capable  of  feeling  and  inspiring  the 
charms  of  friendship.     An  epicurean  without  libertinism, 
and  a  stoic  without  supersition,  he  so  associated  these  two 
sects  as  to  have  it  said,  that  if  Epicurus  and  Zeno  had 
lived  in  his  time,  he  would  have  brought  them  to  drink 
together.     He  stuck  to  his  mediocrity  in  order  to  preserve 
his  happiness.     The  poets  his  contemporaries   were  his 
friends,  and  not  envious  of  his  fame.     Mainard  says,  that 
the  muses  ought  never  to  be^ seated  but  on  tabourets  ma^ 
by  the  hand  of  this  poetical  joiner.    St.  Amand  proved  that 
he  understood  the  art  of  poetry  as  well  as  that  of  making 
boxes.     The  duke  de  St.  Aignan  tells  him,  in  some  very 
agreeable  lines,  that,  by  his  verses  and  his  name,  he  is  the 
first  of  men.     Such  praises  were  probably  offered  in  ridi- 
cule; but  Billaiit  knew  how  to  make  the  most  of  his  friends, 
And  is  said  to  have  tried  the  sincerity  of  their  friendship 
with  very  little  ceremony.     A  new  edition  of  his  works  was 
published  in  1806,  12mo,  Paris,  and   the  year  before  a 
comedy  was  acted  on  the  Paris  stage,  with  some  success, 
called  '^  Chevilles  de  Maitre  Adara.^'  Two  poetical  trades- 
men, in  his  time,  endeavoured  to  rival  him,  but  without 
success,  RagQeneau,  a  pastry-cook,  and  Reault,  a  lock- 
smith.   Each  addressed  a  sonnet  to  him ;  that  of  the  pastry- 
cook concludes  with  a  point  quite  in  character : 

"  Tu  soufiriras  pourtant  que  je  me  flatte  un  pea : 
Avecque  plus  de  hruti  tu  travaiUes  sans  doute^ 
Mois  pour  moi  je  travaille  avecque  plus  de  /tfu.**  • 

I  Biogi  VhiTertellt.— Month.  Ker.  toll.  XXXI.  XXXVIII.  snd  Ulk 
•  G«ii.  Diet— Diet,  Hilt.— MoKri.— Biog.  Uwt. 


BILLBER&  Sffil 

BILLBERG  (John),  a  Swedish  astrononQer^  was  bora* 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century*  He  becaoie 
professor  of  mathematics  at  Upsal  in  1679,  bat  his  zeal  for 
the  Cartesian  system  made  him  be  considered  as  a  dan- 
gerous innovator,  and  he  might  have  been  a  serious  sufferer 
from  the  prejudices  raised  against  him,  if  he  had  not  met 
with  a  kind  protector  in  Charles  XL  This  prince  having 
travelled  to  Torneo,  was  so  struck  with  the  phenomena  of 
the  sun  at  the  spring  solstice,  that  be  sent  Billberg  and 
Spola  to  make  observations  on  it,  in  the  frontiers  of  Lap- 
land, and  their  observations  were  coiifirmed  by  those  of  the 
French  mathematicians  .^nt  thither  by  Louis  XV.  Under 
king  Charles's  protection,  Billberg  received  considerable 
promotion,  and  having  studied  divinity,  was  at  last  made 
bishop  of  StrengneSk  He  died  in  1717,  leaving,  1«  ^'  Trac^ 
tatus  de  Cometis,"  Stockholm,  1682.  H,  *^  Elementa  Geo> 
metrices,''  Upsal,  16b7.  3.  '^  Tractatus  de  refiactione  so* 
lis  inoccidui,"  Stockholm,  1696.  4.  <<  Traotatus  de  refor«« 
matione  Calendarii  Juliani  et  Gregoriani^**  Hto^kholm;,1699, 
and  many  other  philosophical  and  theological  dissertatioas.^ 

BILLT,  or  BILLY  (James  de),  was  bom  at  Guise  in 
Picardy,  of  which  place  his  father  was: governor,  in  1535^ 
and  died  at  Paris  at  the  house  of  Genebrard  his  friend, 
^  the  25th  x)f  December  1 58 1.  He  presided  over  the  abbey 
of  St.  Michel  en  PLerm,  which  John  bis  brother  bad  ceded 
to  him  in  order  to  become  a  Carthusian  monk.  There  are 
of  his  several  pieces  both  in  verse  and  prose ;  and  especially 
.translations  of  the  Greek  fathers  into  Latin.  The  most 
esteemed  of  them  are,  those  of  St.  Gregory  of  Nazianzea^ 
of  St.  Isidore  of  Pelusium,  and  of  St  John  Damascenus* 
Few  of  the  learned  have  been  more  masters^  of  the  GredL 
tongue.  He  distinguished  himself  in  other  (ieptrtments  of 
literature.  He  composed  several  pieces  of 'French  poetry, 
1576,  in  Svo,  and  published  learned  ^'  Observatioues  sa* 
crse,^'  1585,  in  folio.  His  life  was  written  ia  l^atin  by 
Cbatard,  I^ris,  1582,  in  4to.  It  is  also  found  at  the  end 
of  the  works  of  St.  Gregory  Nazianzeaus^  of  the  edition 
of  1583.* 

BILL!  (Jacques  de),  a  Jesuit,  who  was  bom  at  Com* 
piegne  in  1602,  and  died  at  Dijon  in  1679,  aged  seventy^- 

seven ;  published  a  great  number  of  mathematical ivorks^ 

■  '  •         ' 

*  Biog.  UniTewelle. 


\ 


asa  B  I  L  L  I.  ^ 

Qf  wfakih  the  '^  Opas  aslrcmoimcony'*  Paris,  1661,  in  Cto, 
is  tbie  most  known.  ^ 

.  BILLINGSLEY  (Sir  Henry),  an  excellent  mathema- 
tician, and  lordrmayorof  London  in  the  reign  of  queen 
Elizabeth^  was  son  to  Roger  Billingsley  of  Canterbury.  He 
spent  near  three  years  in  his  studies  at  the  university  of  Ox- 
ford, during  which  time  he  contracted  an  acquaintance  with 
an  eminent  matbemaitioian,  whose  name  was  Whitehead,  and 
who  had  been  an  Augustin  friar  at  Oxford,  but  Billingsley 
being  removed  from  the  university,  and  bound  apprentice 
to  an  haberdasher  in  London,  he  afterwards  raised  himself 
80  considerable  a  fortune  by  trade^  that  he  was  successively 
chosen  sheriff,  alderman,  one  of  the  commissioners  of  the 
customs  for  the  port  of  London,  and  at  last  lord  mayor  of 
^at  city  in  1597,  and  received  the  honour  of  knighthood. 
He  made  a  great  progress  in  the  mathematics,  by  the  as<- 
distance  of  his  fridnd  Mr.  Whitehead,  who  being  left  desti- 
tute upon  the  dissblution  of  the  monasteries  in  the  reign  of 
king  Henrj.rVUL'  yvas  received  by  Mr.  Billingsley  into  his 
family,  and  infedtitakied  by  him  in  his  old  age  in  his  house 
at  London  4  and  when  he  died,  he  gave  our  author  all  the 
inathematical'  observations,  which  be  had  made  and  col- 
lectedj  .with  his  notes  upon  Euclid^s  Elements,  which  he 
had  drawn  upai&d  digested  with  prodigious  pains.'  He  was 
one  of  file  original  society  of  antiquaries.  Sir  Henry  Billings- 
ley died  very  much  advanced  in  years,  Nov.  22,  1606,  and 
was  interred  in:  the  church  of  St.  Catherine  Coleman,  Lon*» 
don.  H^  translatied  the  Elemenu  of  Euclid  into  English^ 
to  which  he  added  a  great  number  of  explanations,  ex« 
amples,  scholia,"  annotations,  and  inventions,  collected  from 
tbe  best  mathematicians  both  of  the  former  times,  and 
those  in  vfhicb:  he  lived,  public^ed  under  the  title  of  ^'  The 
^Elements  of  :6eometry  of  the  most  antient  philosopher 
Euclid,  of  Megara,  faithfully. translated*  hito  the  Engli}sh 
tongue,  i  Whereunto  are  added  certain  scholia,  annota- 
tions," '  &c.  Ltmdon,  1 570,  fol.  Dr.  John  Dee  prefixed  to 
this  work  a  long  pre&ce,  full  of  variety  of  learning  relating 
to  the  mathematics. ' 

»  >BlLSON  (Thomas),  a  learned  writer,  and  bishop,  in 
die*endof  the  sixteenth  ^nd  beginning  of  the  seventeentli 
pentury,  was  bom.  in  the  city  of  Winchester,  being  the  soa 
of  ]tlarman  Bilson,  the  same  probably  who  was  fellow  of 

'  t  M«f<ri,     •  Wood's  Athen^i  vol.  I.«<-Geti,  Z)ict.«-ArGhtMlogia,  voV  {.  2Q(, 


B  I  L  S  ON.  26S 

A 

Biferton-college  in  1536,  and  derived  his  descent  by.  his 
grandmother,  or  great-grandmother,  from  the  duke  of  Ba^^' 
yaria*  He  was  educated  in  Winchester  school;  and  in 
1.565^  admitted  perpetual  fellow  of  New-college,  after  he 
bad  served  two  yeai*s  of  probation.  October  10,  1566,  he 
took  his  degree  of  bachelor,  and  April  25,  1570,  that  of 
master  of  arts ;  that  of  bachelor  of  divinity,  June  24, 1579; 
and  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity  on  the  24th  of  Ja- 
nuary 1580.  In  his  younger  years,  he  was  a  great  lover 
of,  and  extremely  studious  in,  poetry,  philosophy,  and 
physic.  But  when  he  entered  into  holy  orders,  and  ap*  . 
plied  himself  to  tbe  study  tof  divinity,  which  his  genius 
chiefly  led  him  to,  he  became  a  most  solid  and  constant 
preacher,  and  one  of  the  most  accomplished  scholars  of 
bis  time.  The  first  preferment  be  had  was  that  of  master 
of  Winchester-school ;  be  was  then  made  prebendary  of 
Winchester,  and  afterwards  warden  of  tbe  college  there. 
To  this  college  he  did  a  very  important  service,  about  the 
year  1584,  by  preserving  thelrevenues  of  it  when  they  were 
in  danger  of  being  swallowed  up  by  a  notorious  forgery,  ot 
wbichy  however,  we  have  only  an  obscure  account.  In 
1585,  he  published  his  book  of  ^^  The  true  difference 
betweehe  Christian  Subjection  and  unchristian  Rebellion,*^ 
and  dedicated  it  to  queen  Elizabeth  ;  a  work,  which,  al^ 
though  it  might  answer  her  immediate  purpose,  was  of 
fetal  tendency  to  Charles  I.  few  books  being  more  fre« 
queutly  quoted  by  the  mal-contents  to  justify  their  resist- 
ance to  that  prince.  In  1593,  he  published  a  very  able 
defence  of  episcopacy,  entitled,  "  The  perpetuall  Govern- 
ment of  Christes  Church:  wherein  are  handled,  the  fa- 
therly, superioritie  which  God  first  established  in  the  pa- 
triarkes  for  the  guiding  of  his  Church,  and  after  continued 
In  the  tribe  of  Levi  and  the  Prophetes :  and  lastlie  con- 
firmed in  the  New  Testament  to  the  apostles  and  their 
successors :  as  also  the  points  in  question  at  this  day, 
touching  the  Jewish  Synedrion  :  the  true  kingdome  of 
Christ:  the  Apostles*  commission:  the  laie  presbyterie: 
the  distinction  of  bishops  from  presbyters,  and  their  sue? 
cession  from  the  apostles  times  and  hands :  the  calling  and 
moderating  of  provinciall  synods  by  primates  and  metro- 
politanes :  the  allotting  of  dioceses,  and  the  popular  elect- 
ing of  «uch  as  must  feede  and  watch  the  flock  :  and  divers 
^other  points  concerning  the  pastoral  regiment  of  the  h6us6 
pf  Cod."    On  the  20th  of  April^  1596,  he  Wfts  elected^ 


2«4        .  B  I  L  S  O  N. 

confirmed  June  the  11th,  and  the  13th  of  the  same  month 
consecrated  bishop  of  Worcester ;  and  translated  in  May 
following  to  the  bishopric  of  Winchester,  and  made  a 
privy-courisellor.  In  1599,' he  published  "The  effect  of 
certaine  Sermons  touching  the  full  Redemption  of  Mankind 
by  thexleath  and  bloud  of  Christ  Jesus;  wherein,*"  besides 
the  nierite  of  Christ's  suffering,  the  manner  of  his  offer- 
ing, the  power  of  his  death,  the  comfort  of  his  crosse,  the 
glorie  of  his  resurrection,  are  handled,  what  paines  Christ 
suffered  in  his  soule  on  the  crosse :  together  with  the 
place  and  purpose  of  his  descent  to  hel  after  death  ;"  &c. 
Lond.  4to,  These  serqions  being  preached  at  Paul's  Cross 
in  Lent  1597,  by  the  encouragement  of  archbishop  Whit- 
gift,  greatly  alarmed  most  of  the  Puritans,  because  they 
contradicted  some  of  their  tenets,  but  they  are  not  now 
thought  consonant  to  the  articles  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
land. The  Puritans,  however,  uniting  their  forces,  and 
ifiaking  their  observations,  sent  them  to  Henry  Jacob,  a 
learned  puritan,  who  published  them  under  his  Own  name. 
The  queen  being  at  Famham-castle,  and,  to  use  the  bi- 
shop's words,  "  taking  knowledge  of  the  things  questioned 
between  him  and  his  opponents,  directly  commianded  him 
neither  to  desert  the  doctrine,  nor  to  let  the  calling  which 
he  bore  in  the  church  of  God,  to  be  trampled  under  foot 
by  such  unquiet  refusers  of  trueth  and  authoritie."  Upon 
^this  royal  command,  he  wrote  a  learned  treatise,  chiefly 
delivered  in  sermons,  which  was  pu*blished  in  1604,  under 
the  title  of  "  The  survey^of  Christ's  sufferings  for  Man's 
Bedemption :  and  of  his  descent  to  hades  or  hel  for  our 
cleliverance,"  Lond.  fol.  He  also  preached  the  sermon  at 
Westminster  before  king  James  I.  and  his  queen,  at  their 
coronation  on  St.  Jameses  day,  July  28,  1603,  from  Rom. 
xiii.  1.  London,  1603,  8vo.  In  January  1603-4,  he  was 
one  of  the  speakers  and  managers  at  the  Hamipton-Court 
conference,  in  which  he  spoke  much,  and,  according  to 
Mr.  Fuller,  most  learnedly,  and,  in  general,  was  one  of 
the  chief  maintainors  and  supports  of  the  church  of  Eng- 
land. The  care  of  revising,  and  putting  the  last  hand  to, 
the  new  translation  of  thq  English  Bible  in  king  James  Ist^s 
reign,  was  committed  to  our  author,  and  to  Dr.  Miles 
Smith,  afterwards  bishop  of  Gloucester.  His  last  public 
^ct,  recorded  in  history,  was  the  being  one  of  the  dele- 

fates  that  pronounced  and  signed  the  sentence  pf  divorce 
etween  Aobert  PevereuX|  earl  of  £sseX|  and  the  lady 


B  I  l!  S  O  N.  265 

*  '  •  • 

Frances  Hovmrd,  in  the  year  1613:  and  H^c,son  being' 
knighted  soon  after  upon  this  very  account,  as  ^as  ima- 
gined, the  world  was  so  malicious  as  to  give  him  the  title, 
of  sir  Nullity  Bilson.     This  learned  bishop,  aftefr  having 
gone  through  many  employments,  departed  this   life  oit 
the  18th  of  June,  1616,  and  was  buried  in  Westniihster- 
abbey,  near  the  entrance  into  St*  Edmund*s  chapel,  oil  the 
south  side  of  the  monument  of  king  Richard  II.     His  cha- 
racter is  represented  to  the  utmost  advantage  by  several 
persons.     Sir  Anthony  Weldon  calls  him  "  an  excellent  ci- 
vilian, and   a  very  great  schoUer :"  Fuller,  **  a  deep  and 
profound  scholar,  excellently  well  read  in  the  fathers  :'* 
Bishop  Godwin,  **  a  very  grave  ndan  ;  and  how  great  a  di- 
vine (adds  he),  if  any  one  knows  not,  let  him  consult  his 
learned  v^ritings  :'*  Sir  John  Harrington,  **  I  find  but  foure 
lines  (in  bishop  Godwin's  book)  concerning  him  ;  and  if  £ 
should  give  him  his  due,  in  proportion  to  the  rest,  I  should 
spend  foure  leaves.     Not  that  I  need  make  him  better 
known,  being  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  his  ranck,  and  a 
man  that  carried  prelature  in  his  very  aspect;     His  rising 
was  meerly  by  his  learning,  as  true  prelates  should  rise. 
Smt  non  nwdo  labe  malt  sed  stcspicione  carentes,'  not  onely 
fi-ee  from  the  spot,  but  from  the  speech  of  corruption.** 
He  wrote  in  a  more  elegant  style,  and  in  fuller  and  better- 
turnted  periods,  than  was  usual  in  the  times  wherein  he  lived. 
It  is  related  of  our  prelate,  that  once,  when  he  was  preach? 
ing  a  sermon  at  St.  Paul's  Cross,  a  sudden  panic,  occa- 
sioned  by  the   folly  ar  caprice  of  one  of  the  audience, 
seized  the  multitude  there  assenpbled,  who  thought  that 
the  church  was  falling  on  their  heads.     The  good  bishop, 
who  sympathized  with  the  people  more  from  pity  than 
from  fear,  after  a  sufficient  pause,  reassumed  and  Went 
through  his  sermon  with  great  composure.  * 

BINGHAM  (Joseph),  the  writer  of  several  tracts  on 
theological  subjects,  and  author  of  that  laborious  perform- 
ance, "  Otigines  ecclesiasticae,  or  the  Antiquities  of  the 
Christian  church,"  was  the  son  of  Mr.  Francis  Bingham,  a 
respectable  inhabitant  of  Wakefield  in  Yorkshire,  wherd 
our  author  was  born  in  September,  1668.  He  learned  the 
first  rudiments  of  grammar  at  a  school  in  the  same  town, 
and  on  the  26th  of  May  1684,  was  admitted  a  member  of 

1  Gen.  pict.— Bion;.  BriU— ^itli.  Ox.  vol.  I. — Harrington's  Brief  View,  p«  71* 
— Grani^er. 


966 


BINGHAM. 


University  college  in  Oxford.  There  he  applied  with  per-, 
severing  industry  to  those  studies  which  are  generally  con- 
sidered as  most  laborious.  Though  he  by  no  means  neg- 
lected the  writers  of  Greece  or  Rome,  yet  he  employed 
most  of  his  time  in  studying  the  writings  of  the  fathers. 
How  earnestly  he  devoted  himself  to  these  abstruse  in* 
quiries,  he  had  an  early  opportunity  of  giving  an  honour- 
able testimony,  which  will  presently  be  mentioned  more 
at  large.  He  took  the  degree  of  B.  A.  in  1688,  and  on  the 
1st  of  July  1689  was  elected  fellow  of  the  above-men- 
tioned college.  His  election  to  this  fellowship  was  attended 
with  some  flattering  marks  of  honour  and  distinction*.  On 
the  23d  of  June,  1691,  he  was  created  M.  A.  about  four 
years  after  which  a  circumstance  occurred  which  eventually 
occasioned  him  to  leave  the  university.  Being  called  on 
to  preach  before  that  learned  body,  he  would  not  let  slip 
the  opportunity  it  gave  him  of  evincing  publicly  his  iuti-  . 
mate  acquaintance  with  the  opinions  and  doctrines  of  the 
fathers,  and  at  the  same  time.of  displaying  ^e  zeal  with 
which  he  was  resolved  to  defend  their  tenets  concerning 
the  Trinity,  in  opposition  to  the  attacks  of  men  in  much 
more  conspicuous  stations  than  himself.  Having  heard 
what  he  conceived  to  be  a  very  erroneous  statement  of 
that  subject  delivered  by  a  leading  man  from  the  pulpit 
at  St.  Mary's,  he  thought  it  his  duty  on  this  occasion  to 
point  out  to  his  hearers  what  the  fathers  had  asserted  to  he 
the  ecclesiastical  notion  of  the  term  person.  In  pursuance 
of  this  determination  he  delivered  a  very  long  discourse  on 
the  28th  of  October,  1695,  from  the  famous  words  of  the 
apostle,  ^' There  are  three  that  bear  record  in  heaven, 
^&c.''  This  sermon,  though  containing  nothing  more  than 
an  elaborate  defence  of  the  term  person,  in  opposition  to 
the  explanation  which  he  had  lately  heard,  drew  a  heavy 
pensure  on  the  preacher  from  the  ruling  members  of  the 
university,  charging  him  with  having  asserted  doctrines 
false,  impious,  and  heretical,  contrary  to  those  of  the  ca- 


*  In  that  f  ituation  lie  paid  particu- 
lar attention  to  the  instruction  of  a 
joung  nan  whom  he  had  brought  from 
Wakefieldt  and  introduced  at  Univer- 
aity  college ;  and  who,  toon  after  Mr. 
'gingham's  election  to  a  fellowihip, 
was,  by  his  means,  elected  scholar  of 
the  same  college.  This  was  Mr.  John 
Totter,  who  afterwards  became  arch- 
bishop of  Caalerbary.    Mr.  Potter's 


tutor  happening  to  die  when  he  was  no 
more  than  two  years  standing  in  the 
untTersity,  Mr.  Bingham  took  his 
young  friend  and  townsman  under  his 
wing;  and  to  his  having  given  some 
general  dtrectioni  to  hia  ttudies^  simi- 
lar to*hb  own,  it  \%  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  we  owe  that  excellent  bopk^ 
**  Pivtter  on  Chureb-govemment.'* 


tholic  chufjcb.;  This  censure  was  fpllowed  by  other  cba  rgear 
in  the  public  prints^  viz..  tbgise  of  Amnimiy  Tritbeism ,  and 
liie  bere^y  of  Valentious  G^nitilis.  These  matters  ran. ao 
high,  that  be  fpund  himself  under  the  necessity  of  resign- 
iflg  bis  fellowfbipi  and  of.  withdrawing  .from  the  univer* 
sity;  the  former  of  which  took  place  on  the  23dofNo<« 
vem^pr.  l6^5.  How  wholly,  unmerited  these  accusations 
were,,  pot  only  appears  from  tbe  sermon  itself,  no.w  in  the 
possession  of  the  writer  of  this  article,  but  also  from  the 
whole  tenor  of  bis  life  and  writings,  constantly  shewing, 
himself  in  both  a  zealous  defender  of  what  is  called  the 
orthodox  notion  of  the  Trinity.  However,  that  such  a.cen* 
sure  was  passed,  is  most  certain,  as  well  from  domestic  tra* 
ditiou,  as  from  the  mention  which  is  repeatedly  made  of 
it  in  the  manuscript  papers  of  our  author ;  but  we  are  as- 
sured that  no  truces  thereof  are  nqw  to  be  found  in  the 
,  books  of  the  university. 

About  this  time  our  author  was  presented,  without  any 
solicitation  on  his  part,  by  the  famous  Dr.  Radcliffe,  to  the 
rectory  of  Headbourne«Wor^y,  a  living  valued  at  that- 
time  at  about  .one  hundred  pounds  a  year;  situated  near 
Winchester.  Within  a  few  months  after  his  settling  in  this 
country,  being  called  oa  tq  preach  at  a  visitation  held  iu 
the  cathedral  of  Winchester,  On  the  12th  of  May,  1696^ 
he  seized  that  opportunity  of  pursuing  the  subject  which 
be  had  begun  at  Oxford,  and  of  exculpating  himself  from 
those, charges  which. had  been  brought  against  him.  How 
little. oui;  divine  had  desierved  those  imputations  in  the  opi*» 
nion  of  his  brethren,  before  wbpm  he. preached,  may  in 
some  d^ree  be  judged  from  bis  having  beep,  at  no  greater 
distance  of  time  than  the  16th  of  September,  1697,  again 
appointed .  to.  preach  before  them  on  a  similar  occasion* 
£(e  then  brought  tp  a  conclusion  wbat  he  wished  faither  to 
say. on  that  sut^ect,  his  manner  of  treating  which  had  ex* 
posed  him  t;»  the  censure  of  the.  university :  and  having 
done  so,  he  prepared  to  commit  his  three*  sermons  to  the 
press.  Why  this  intention  was  not  fulfilled  cannot  be  ga- 
thered froQpi  any  of  his  papers,  though  there  exists  among 
them  a  long  preface  to  the  sero^ou  preached  at  Oxford^ 
explaining  and  justifying  his,  motives  for  having  preached 
and  published  it;  and  a  second  preface  annexed  to  the 
ifirst  of  those  preached  at  Winton,  in  which  be  dedicates 
the  two  visitation  sermons  to  the  clergy  of  the  deanery  be- 
fore wbom  th^y  were  delivered  i  wherein  he  tells  them^ 


2M  BINGRA 

that  be  bas  been  induced  to  da  so  not  only  from  the^sut^ 
jecl  contained  in  them  being  sncb  as  wa»  tbeir  immediate 
concern^  but  also  that  be  might  have  an  opportunity  of 
giving  a  more  full  account  of  the  motives  and  ciroam- 
stances  which  bad  occasioned  hii^  to  write  or  to  publish 
ibem.  t 

The  preface  gives  a  very  long  and  learned  account  of 
nrhat  Mr.  Bingham  bad  in  bis  sermons  asserted  concerning 
the  opinions  of  the  fathers.  To  follow  or  repeat  bis  ob^ 
aervations  on  this  subject  would  lead  us  into  matter  too 
prolix  for  an  article  of  biography. 

About  six  or  seven  years  after  our  author  bad  taken  up 
bis  residence  at  Worthy,  he  married  Dorothea,  one  of  the 
daughters  of  the  rev.  Richard  Pococke,  at  that  time  rector 
of  Colmer  in  Hampshire.     By  this  lady,  before  be  had 
any  other  preferment  than  the  small  living  above-men- 
tioned, he  became  the  father  of  ten  children ;  yet  neither* 
did  he  suffer  the  rapid  increase  of  his  family,  nor  the  con- 
sequent narrowness  of  his  finances,  to  depress  bis  spirits, 
or  impede  the  progress  of  his  studies.     On  the  contrary, 
be  appears  to  have  applied  to  his  literary  pursuits  with  a 
clofiier  and  more  persevering  industry;  and  by  those  means, 
in  the  course  of  what  cannot  be  considered  as  a  long  life, 
be  was  enabled  to  complete  in  this  country  retirement, 
besides  several  other  single  volumes,  a  most  learned  and 
laborious  work,  closely  printed  in  ten  volumes  in  octavo, 
under  the  title  of  ^*  Origines  Ecclesiasticie,  or  the  Anti- 
quities of  the  Christian  Cbtrrcb,*'  the  first  volume  of  which 
he  published  in  17Q^.     He  committed  the  last  volume  to 
the  press  in   1722.     Of  the  various  difiicnittes  with  which 
our  author  liad  to  contend  in  the  prosecution  of  his  labours, 
he  frequently  speaks  in  such  pointed  terms  as  cannot  but 
excite  both  our  sympathy  and  regret.     He  tells  us  that  he 
had  to- struggle  with  an  infirm  and  sickly  constitution,  and 
constantly  laboured  under  the  greatest  disadvantages,  for 
want  of  many  necessary  books,  which  he  had  no  oppor- 
tunity to  see,  and  no  ability  to  purchase.     At  the  same 
time  he  does  not  omit  to  express  his  gratitude  to  Provi- 
dence, which  had  so  placed  him,  that  he  could  have  re-> 
course  to  a  very  excellent  library,  that  of  the  cathedral 
ehurch  of  Winchester,  left  by  bishop  Morley ;  though,  even 
that  was  deficient  in  many  works  to  which  he  had  occasion 
to  refer ;  and  yet  when  we  turn  to  the  Index  auctorum  at 
the  end  of  his  work,  we  shall  perhaps  be  astonished  at  die 


B  I  l^G  H  A  M.  £69 

ttat  number  of  books  which  he  appears  to  have  consulted; 
But  to  such  straits  was  be  driven  for  want  of  books,  that 
be  frequently  procured  imperfect  copies  at  a  cheap  rate, 
and  then  employed  a  part  of  that  time,  of  wbkh  so  small 
a  portion  was  albtted  him,  and  which  therefore  could  so 
ill  be  spared,  in  the  tedious  task  of  transcribing  the  defi* 
cient  pages;  instances  of  which  are  still  in  being,  and 
terve  as  memorials  of  his  indefatigable  industry  on  all  oc« 
casions. 

In  1712,  sir  Jonathan  Trelawny,  at  that  time  bishop  of 
Winchester,  was  pleased  to  collate  our  learned  divine  to 
the  rectory  of  Havant,  near  Portsmouth,  as  a  reward  for 
his  diligence ;  which  preferment,  together  with  the  sums 
he  was  daily  receiving  from  the  sale  of  his  works,  seemed 
in  some  measure  to  have  removed  the  narrowness  of  his 
circumstances,  and  to  promise  a  comfortable  maintenance 
for  his  numerous  family ;  but  this  pleasing  prospect  shortly 
disappeared :    he  lost  almost  or.  quite  the  whole  of  bis 
hardly  earned  gains  in   1720,  by  the  bursting  of  the  well-- 
known Sooth  Sea  bubble*     Yet  such  was  the  tranquillity 
of  his  disposition,  that  he  continued  his  studies  without 
intermission  ahnost  to  the  very  end  of  his  life ;  for  though 
but  a  few  months  elapsed  between  the  publication  of  the 
last  volume  of  Origines  and  his  death,  yet  that  short  time 
was  employed  in  preparing  materials  for  other  laborious 
works,  and  in  making  preparations  for  a  new  edition  of 
Origines.     With  this  view  he  inserted  many  manuscript 
observations,  in  a  set  of  the  Antiquities  which  he  preserved 
for  his  own  use,  and  which  are  now  in  the  possession  of 
the  furnisher  of  this  article.     But  from  this  and  all  other 
employments  he  was  prevented  by  death.    *His  coustitu- 
tion,  which  was  by  nature  extremely  weak  and  delicate, 
could  not  be  otluerwise  than  much  impaired  by  so  unre- 
mitted a  course  of  laborious  studies,  in  a  life  wholly  se- 
dentary and  recluse,  which  brought  on  at  an  early  period 
.  all  the  symptoms  and  infirmities  of  a  very  advanced  age. 
The  approach  of  his  dissolution  being  clearly  visible  both 
to  himself  and  friends,  it  was  settled  between  the  dien 
bishop  of  Winchester,  Dr.  Trimnell,  and  himself,  that  he 
should  resign  Havant  to  enable  his  lordship  to  appoint 
some  friend  of  the  family  to  hold  it,  till  his  eldest  son,  then 
about  20  years  of  age,  could  be  collated  to  it.     As  this 
however  was  not  carried  into  eKe<iution,  it  is  probable  tbat 
his  death  caj{»e  oa  njiore  hastily  itfek^n  k^d  been  expected. 


270  B  I  N  G  H*  A  M. 

and  prevented  Dr.  Trimuell  from  giving  him  what  he  fally 
intended,  the  first  vacant  prebend  in  Winchester. 

After  a  life  thus  spent  in  laborious  pursuits,  Mr.  Bing- 
ham died  on  the  17th  of  August,  1723,  it  may  truly  be 
said  of  old  age,  though  he  was  then  only  in  his  55th  year. 
His  body  was  buried  in  the  church-yard  of  Headbourne 
Worthy ;  but,  as  he  frequently  expressed  a  dislike  to  mo-^ 
numents  and  pompous  inscriptions,  nothing  of  that  sort 
was  erected  to  his  memory. 

At  the  time  of  his  decease  only  six  of  his  ten  children, 
two  sons  and  four  daughters,  were  living ;  these,  with  their 
widowed  mother,  were  left  in  very  contracted  circum- 
stances. Mrs.  Bingham  was  therefore  induced  to  sell  the 
copy-right  of  her  late  husband's  writings  to  the  booksellers, 
who  immediately  republished  the  whole  of  his  works  in  two 
volumes  in  folio,  without  making  any  alterations  whatso<> 
ever ;  and  though  the  eldest  son  undertook  the  office  of 
'Correcting  the  press,  he  did  not  insert  any  of  the  manu-* 
-script  additions  which  bis  father  had  prepared ;  as  he  was 
then*  so  very  young,  that  he  probably  bad  not  had  an  op- 
portunity of  examining  his  father's  books  and  papers  suf-^ 
ficiendy  to  discover  that  any  such  preparations  for  a  new 
-edition  had  been  made*  Of  the  four  daughters,  one  mar- 
ried a  gentleman  of  Hampshire ;  the  other  three  died  siu'- 
gle.  The  second  son  will  be  mentioned  in  the  succeeding 
anicle.  The  widow  died  in  a  very  advanced  age,  in  bishop 
Warner's  college  for  clergymen's  widows,  at  Bromley,  in 
Kent,  in  1755. . 

Of  such  importance  have  the  works  of  this  eminent  wri- 
ter been  esteemed  in  foreign  countries,  that  they  have  aH 
-been  correctly  translated  into  Latin  by  Grichow,  a  diving 
df  Halle  in  Germany,   11  vols.  4to,  1724 — 38,  and  were 
reprinted  in  1751 — 61.     But  he  did  not  live  to  receive 
-this  flattering  mark  of  approbation,  for  he  died  in  172$. 
iHere  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  observe  how  frequently  it  oc^ 
curs  that  the  merits  of  an  eminent  ancestor  derive  honour 
<and  emolument  on  their  posterity.    It  is  presumed  that 
the  character  of  the  person  whose  life  we  have  been  writi- 
'ing,  was  the  means  of  procuring  the  living  of  Havant  fat 
bis  eldest  son,  and  the  late  learned  and  excellent  bishop 
.  of  London,  Dr.  Lowth,  expressly  assigns  that  reason  for 
bestowing  a  comfortable  living  on  bis  grand-son.  .  "I  vene^ 
-rate  (says  he  in  a  letter  which  convej^d  the  presentation) 
.the  memory  of  your  excellent  grandfather,  my  father's  par*- 


BINGHAM.  271 

ticular  and  most  intimate  friend.  He  wa^  not  rewarded 
a$  he  ought  to  have  hisen ;  I  therefore  give  you  this  living 
as  a  small  recompense  for  his  great  and  inestimable  merits.'* 
We  shall  conclude  this  article  by  giving  the  general  cha- 
racter of  this  divine :  As  a  writer  his  learning  was  extensive 
and  acute ;  his  style  zealous  and  persuasive,  and  his  ap- 
plication uncommonly  persevering.  His^  temper,  on  ail 
common  and  indifferent  occasions,  was  mild  and  benevo- 
lent ;  and  to  these  he  united  great  zeal  in  the  cause  in 
which  he  was  engaged.  Though  his  passions  were  so 
wholly  subject  to  the  guidance  of  religion  and  virtue,  that 
no  worldly  losses  were  sufficient  to  discompose  him,  yet 
whenever  he  believed  the  important  interests  of  the  church 
to  be  in  danger,  he  was  always  eager  to  step  forth  in  its 
defence. 

Besides  what  are  mentioned  above,  Mr.  Bingham  wrote, 

1.  "  The  French  church's  apology  for  the  church  of  Eng- 
land ;  or  the  objections  of  dissenters  against  the  articles, 
homilies,  liturgy,  and  canons  of  the  English  church,  con- 
sidered, and  answered  upon  the  principles  of  the  reformed 
church  of  France.  A  work  chieSy  extracted  out  of  the 
authentic  acts  and  decrees  of  the  French  national  synods, 
and  the  most  approved  writers*  of  that  church,'^  1706,  8vo. 

2.  ^'  Scholastical  history  of  the  practice  of  the  church  in 
'reference  to  the  administration  of  Baptism  by  Laymen,  part 

I."  1712,  8vo.  3.  ^' A. scholastical  history  of  Lay-baptism^ 
part  II.  with  some  considerations  on  Dr.  Brett's  answer  to 
the  -first  part,"  8vo.  To  which  is  prefixed.  The  state  of 
the  present  controversy :  and  at  the  end  is  an  Appendix, 
containing  some  remarks  on  the  author  of  the  second  part 
of  Lay-baptism  invalid.  4.  "  A  discourse  concerning  the 
Mercy  of  God  to  Penitent  Sinners :  intended  for  the  use  of 
persons  troubled  in  mind  ;  being  a  sermon  on  Psalm  ciii. 
13."  Printed  singly  at  first,  and  reprinted  among  the 
'rest  of  his  works,  in  2  vols,  folio,  1725.^ 

BINGHAM  (Joseph),  the  second  son  of  the  eminent 
writer  before  mentioned,  was  the  last  of  his  numerous 
family,  and  consequently  extremely  young  at  the  time  of 
his  father's  death.    Though  he  died  in  very  early  life,  y^t 

9 

^  Biog.  Brit  a  very  meagre  article.— -Nichols'i  Bowyer»  vol.  I.  and  from  ma- 
ferial*  communicated  by  the  rer.  Richard  Bingham,  B.  A.  minister  of  Oosport 
'cliapel,  Hanti,  and  late  fellow  of  New  college,  Oxford,   great  grandson  of 
thii  learned  writer. 


^72  BINGHAM. 

* 

dwrmg  the  short  period  of  bis  existence,  he  pursued  bis 
j»tudi<es  with  such  unremitting  perseverance,  and  gave  such 
early  prpofis  of  genius  and  sound  understanding,  «nd  so 
strongly  evinced  his  determination  to  tread  in  the  foot- 
steps of  his  father,  as  fully  entitle  him  to  a  few  lines  from 
the  pen  of  the  biographer.  This  young  man  received  his 
education  on  the  foundation  at  the  Charter-house,  from 
wheuce  he  was  at  the  usual  age  removed  to  Corpus  college 
in  Oxford.  In  the  university  he  was  a  most  exemplary  and 
persevering  student,  and  was  preparing  to  give  public 
proofs  of  his  diligence,  having  actually  printed  every  part, 
except  the  title-page  and  preface,  of  a  very  valuable  edi- 
tion of  the  Theban  story,  which  was  completed  and  pub- 
lished after  his  death  by,  a  gentleman,  into  whose  hands  his 
papers  had  fallen,  as  a  security  for  a  sum  of  money  which 
t^ad  been  borrowed  to  facilitate  the  publication.  Whilst 
lie  was  thus  usefully  employed,  and  just  as  he  was  on  the 
point  of  being  ordained,  with  every  prospect  of  promotion 
from  the  patronage  of  archbishop  Potter,  he  was  suddenly 
brought  to  his  grave,  at  the  immature  age  of  22,  by  an  ilU 
Tiess  wholly  occasioned  by  too  sedentary  a  life,  and  too 
close  an  application  to  his  studies.  He  lies  buried  in  the 
cloisters  of  Corpus  college,  without  either  monument,  in- 
scription, or  stone  Erected  to  his  memory,  though  it  might 
most  truly  be  said  of  him,  that  he  fell  a  martyr  to  applica- 
tion, industry,  and  learning.  * 

BINGHAM  (George),  the  sixth  son  of  Richard  Bing- 
ham, esq.  and  Philadelphia,  daughter  and  heir  of  John  Po- 
tinger,  esq.  by  Philadelphia,  daughter  of  sir  Johu  Erule, 
hart,  chancellor  of  the  exchequer,  was  born,  in  171 5,  at 
Melcomb  Bingham,  in  the  county  of  Dorset,  where  that 
antient  and  respected  family  have  resided  for  many  cen- 
turies. 

Patronized  by  Mr.  Potinger,  his  grandfather,  who  very 
early  discovered  his  promising  talents  and  amiable  disposi* 
tion,  he  was  at  12  years  of  age  sent  to  the^ing^s  college 
at  Westminster ;  and  hy  his  unremitting  industry  so  im- 
proved his  abilities,  that  be  vras  elected,  before  he  had 
reached  his  1 7th  year,  student  of  Christ-church  in  Oxford. 
Being  here  valued  on  account  of  his  literary  attainments, 
and  justly  beloved  for  the  urBanity  of  his  manners,  he  was, 
within  four  years  from  his  matriculation*  elected  fellow  bf 

1  From  the  same  iaformation. 


BINGHAM.  S73 

All  Souls^  college,  where  be  had  an  opportunity  of  cialti- 
Tating  a  sincere  and  unalterable  friendship  with  many  gen- 
tlemen of  the  most  distinguished  reputation  ;  and  it  has 
been  justly  remarked  to  his  honour  and  credit,  that  he  never 
made  an  acquaintance  by  whom  he  was  not  highly  respect- 
edf  or  formed  an  intimacy  that  was  not  permanent.  The 
late  excellent  judge,  sir  William  Blackstone,  who  was  his 
friend  and  contemporary,  and  whom  he  not  a  little  assisted 
in  his  <<  Stemmata  Chicheliana,''  well  knew  his  worth,  and 
kept  up  a  correspondence  with  him,  with  a  sincerity  and 
fervour  unaltered  and  undimTnished,  to  the  last  hour  of  hi& 
life.  In  1745-6,  when  party  ran  high,  and  the  Pretender 
had  made  incursions  into  England,  he  served  the  office  of 
proctor  in  the  university,  and  conducted  himself  in  those 
troublesome  times  with  a  proper  spirit  and  resolution,  as 
became  an  upright  magistrate  and  a  good  man.  Being  a 
few  years  after,  on  the  death  of  the  rev.  Christopher  Pitt, 
the  excellent  translator  of  Virgil's  ^neid,  presented  by 
George  Pitt,  esq.  (the  late  lord  Rivers)  to  the  rectory  d( 
Pimpern,  Dorset,  he  married  a  lady  to  whom  he  had  been 
some  time  engaged,  by  whom  he  had  thr^ee  children,  a 
daughter  and  two  sons ;  but  his  wife,  whom  he  doated  on 
with  the  tenderest  affection,  was,  after  the  death  of  her 
youngest  child,  seized  with  an  illness  which  terminated  in 
a  dropsy,  and  brought  her  to  the  grave  in  the  36th  year  of  ^ 
her  age.  She  was  buried,  in  1756,  in  the  chancel  of  the 
parish-church  of  Pimpern. 

Being  now  a  widower,  he  divided  his  time  betweeh 
theological  studies  and  the  education  of  his  children ;  but 
having  been  presented  by  sir  Gerard  Napier  to  the  living 
of  More  Critchil,  he  changed  his  residence  from  Pimpern 
to  his  new  preferment,  that  he  might  by  absence  alleviate 
the  severe  stroke  he  had  sustained,  and  might  enjoy  the 
acquaintance  and  friendship  of  his  hospitable  and  worthy 
patron.  Hh  patron  did  not  long  survive,  nor  was  he  al- 
lotted to  continue  long  in  his  new-chosen  habitation ;  for 
being  seised  with  a  violent  ague  and  fever,  from  \i^ich  he 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  recovered  by  the  skill  of  his 
physician  and  strength  of  his  constitution,  he  was  obliged 
again  to  return  to  the  rectory  at  Pimpern. 

His  two  sons  were  now  entered  on  the  foundation  at  the 
college  near  Winchester,  and  had  both  of  them  made  such- 
rapid  progress  in  their  education,  that  they  gave  him  every 
possible   s^^tisfaction.    The  eldest  was  the  senior  scholar 

Vol.  V.  T 


??4  BINGHAM. 

at  16  years  of  age,  and  was  certain  of  succeeding  at  tbe 
next  election  to  that  goal  of  Wiccamical  hope,  a  fellowship 
of  New  college,  in  Oxford  ;  when,  a  few  days  prior  to  that 
ttra,  as  be  was  bathing  in  the  navigable  river  Itchin,  in  a 
place  well  known  to  every  Winchester  boy  by  thenam^  of 
77ie  Poty  he  was  seized  with  a  cranap  within  two  yards  of 
the  shore,  in  the  presence  of  more  than  100  expert  swim-^ 
jners,  and  his  unfortunate  younger  brother,  who  was  close 
to  him  at  the  moment,  and  sutik  beneath  the  water  never 
to  appear  again.  His  lifeless  body  was  not  found  till  half 
an  hour  had  expired;  All  arts  to  re-animate  him  were  tried 
in  Vain  ;  and  he  was  buried  a  few  days  after  in  the  cloisters 
ef  Winchester  college,  amidst  the  tears  of  his  afflictedxrodi- 
panions. 

Mr.  Bingham  was  inconsolable  at  this  event ;  and  Md 
most  intimate  friends  observed,  that  it  cast  a  gloom  over 
his  countenance  during  the  remainder  of  his  long  life  ;  but 
60  silent  is  real  sorrow,  that  he  was  never  heard  to  men- 
tion his  loss,  nor  was  any  account  of  it  found  among  his 
papers,  except  an  insertion  in  a  Family  Bible. 

When  the  author  of  the  Antiquities  of  the  County  of 
Dorset  first  offered  his  labours  to  the  public,  Mr.  Binghana, 
who  was  not  ignorant  how  much  care  and  study  had  been 
bestowed  in  collecting  those  valuable  materials,  gave  him 
every  assistance  in  his  power.  By  examining  with  inde- 
fatigable attention  the  numerous  Roman  tumuli  and  cause- 
ways that  abound  in  that  country,  and  by  a  knowledge  of 
many  circumstances  that  had  escaped  the  observation 
of  others,  he  enriched  the  collection  with  a  treasure  of 
many  curious  accounts,  and  made  no  small  addition  to  the 
numerous  list  of  subscribers,  by  soliciting  his  friends  in 
behalf  of  Mr.  Hutchins.  The  author  expressed  his  ac- 
knowledgments in  niany  private  letters ;  but  Mr.  Bingham 
-would  never  permit  him  to  make  known  from  what  hand  he 
received  his  communications,  nor  is  the  name  of  G.  B.  once 
mentioned  in  the  work,  except  after  the  marvellous  ac- 
count of  Sadler^s  prophecy,  attested  by  Cuthbert  Bound  ; 
at  the  end  of  the  first  volume  it  is  added,  '^  this  narrative 
.was  communicated  by  the  rev.  G.  Bingham,  of  Pimpern.'' 
The  original  paper,  signed  by  C.  Bound,  which  has  been 
long  preserved  in  the  family,  is  now  in  the  possession  of 
the  rev.  P.  Bingham,  as  aire  also  many  observations,  cor- 
rections, .  et  udditumentd,  never  yet  publijsbed. 

Mr.  Bingham  died  at  Pimpern,  beloved  and  regretted^ 


BINGHAM.    ,  275 

Oct  11)  1800,  aged  eighty *five»  and  was  buried  in  the 
cbancei  of  Pimpem  charch,  where  on  a  marble  monument 
IS  engraved  a  classical  and  characteristic  epitaph  by  his 
son,  the  rev.  Peregrine  Bingham,  rector  of  Radclive,  Bucks^ 
-  As  an  author,  Mr.  Bingham  acquired  a  considerable 
share  of  fame  in  his  life-time  by  bis  *^  Vindication  of  the 
Poctrine  and  Liturgy  pf  the  Church  of  England/'  occa- 
sioned by  Mr.  Theophiluis  Lindsay's  Apology  for  quitting 
his  living,  1774,  8vo ;  and  his  essay  on  the  ^^  Millenium,^' 
entitled  *^  T«  x«?^  ^  >"  "  Dissertationes  Apocalyptlcse  ;!* 
"  Paul  at  Athens,"  an  essay ;  a  "  Commentary  on  Solo* 
mon's  Song,"  and  some  sermons,  all  which  were  published 
by  his  son  above-mentioned  in  2  vols.  1804,.  8vo,  with  Me-« 
moirs  of  the  author,  in  which  it  is  said,  that  Mr.  Bingham 
Ignited  the  profoundest  erudition  with  the.  most  consum- 
mate piety,,  and  had  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  Hebrew 
tongue,  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  earliest  fathers 
of  the  church,  .and  an  accurate'  skill  in  classic  literature^ 
and  in  history  ancient  and  modern,  sacred  and  profane* 
His  opinions,  however,  on  some  points,  differed  much 
from  those  of  his  brethren ;  particularly  in  contending 
that  Mahomet  and  his  religion  are  the  sole  objects  of  the 
prophecies  of  Daniel  and  St.  John,  which  ^o  many  able  di- 
vines have  uniformly  applied  to  papal  Rome.  Upon  this 
account,  when  the  Warburtonian  lecture  was  offered  him 
in  1781,  he  declined  preaching  it,  because  the  object  of  the 
founder  was  to  prove  the  truth  of  Christianity  from  the 
completion  of  the  prophecies  which  relate  to  the  Christian 
church,  especially  the  apostacy  of  papal  Rome.  Mr.  Bing- 
ham conceived  that  the  church  of  Rome  is  a  part,  though  a 
corrupt  part,  of  the  Christian  church,  and  wnich,  agreeing 
with  us  in  fundamentals,  may  be  still  capable  of  reforma- 
tion. In  his  sentiments  on  the  Millenium,  he  restricts  that 
9taie  to  the  enj.oyment  of  uninterrupted  peace  by  the 
church  for  a  determined  time,  and  therefore  neither  ad- 
.jnits  that  the  Millenium  is  already  past,  which  Hammond 
and  a  few  ^morethought,  nor  that  it  will  be,  what  the  ma- 
jority of  writers  have  described,  the  literal  reigning  of 
the  saints  on  earth,  with  Christ,  for  a  thousand  years.  ^ 

BINI  (Severin),  in  Latin  BiNius,  was  born  at  Randel- 
raidt|  in  the  country  of  Juliers,  and  became  canon  and 
professor  of  divinity  at  Cologn,  where  he  died  in  1641. 

>  LH^  prefixed  to  hit  Worki.— Gent.  Maf*  1809»  1804. 

T  2 


276  B  I  N  I. 

He  is  known,  and  not  much  to  his  credit,  as  the  editor  of 
a  "  Collection  of  the  Councils,"  Cologne,  1606,  4  vols.  fol. 
161S^  9  vols,  and  Paris,  1636,  10  vols,  with  notes  from 
Baronius, .  Bellarmin,  Suarez,  &c.  but  he  has  taken  so 
many  liberties  in  capriciously  altering  these  councils  in 
many  parts,  that  it  becomes  necessary  to  caution  the  reader 
against  the  purchase  of  his  work.  Usher  calls  him  *^  Con- 
taminator  Conciliorum.^*  ^ 

BINNING  (Hugh),  a  Scotch  divine,  was  born  in  the 
shire  of  Air,  1627,  and  educated  in  the  university  of  Glas* 
gow,  where  he  took  his  degrees,  and  in  his  nineteenth 
year  was  appointed  regent  and  professor  of  moral  philoso- 
phy,  and  was  among  the  first  in  Scotland  that  began  to 
reform  plrilosophy  from  the  barbarous  terms  and  jargon  of 
the  schoolmen.     As  a  preacher  his  talents  were  extremely 
popular,  and  after  he  had  preached  some  time  as  a  proba-^ 
tioner,  he  was  elected  minister  of  Govan,  near  Glasgow. 
In  his  ministerial  conduct  and  character  few  excelled  bin), 
a^d  the  sweetness  of  his  temper  was  such,  that  all  seemed 
to  know  his  worth  but  himself.     At  last  his  incessant  la- 
bours brought  on  *a  consumption,  which  put  a  period  to 
his  life  at  Govan,   1654,  aged  29.     He  once  had  an  inter- 
view  with  Cromwell  when  the  latter  was  in  Scotland,  and 
had  appointed  a  meeting  of  the  presbyterians  and  inde- 
pendents to  dispute  before  him.     Mr.  Binning  was  present 
on  this  occasion,  and  managed  the  cause  of  presbyterianism 
with  so  much  skill  as  to  puzzle  Cromwell's  independent 
ministers.     After  the  dispute,  Oliver  asked  the  name  of 
that  ^Mearned  and  bold  young  man,^*  and  being  told  his 
name  was  Hugh  Binning,  he  said,  with  a  wretched  play 
on  words,  "  He  hath  bound  well  indeed,  but,"  clapping  his 
hand  on  his  sword,  ^^  this  will  loose  all  again.^^     His  tracts, 
sermons,  and  commentaries  on  the  epistle  to  the  Romans, 
were  published  separately ;  but  they  have  .been  since  col- 
lected into  one  volume,  4to,  and  printed  at  Edinburgh, 
1735.* 

BJOERNSTAHL  (James  Jo^as),  a  Swedish  traveller 
of  considerable  note,  was  born  iii  the  province  of  Suder- 
mania,  in  1731.  After  completing  his  studies  at  Upsal,  he 
was  engaged  as  tutor  in  the  family  of  baron  de  Rudbeck, 
with  whose  son  he  travelled  in  England,  France,  Italy, 

1  Biog.  UDiTerselle. — Moreri. — ^Foppen  Bibl.  Belg.  who  has  the  hnpudence 
to  call  Usher  ''pseudla-archiepiscopus*" 
'      *  Biog.  Scoticana. 


B  J  O  E  R  N  S  T  A  H  L.  917 

Germany,  &c.  During  his  residence  at  Paris,  he  appli^ 
himself  eagerly  to  the  study  of  the  oriental  languages,  for 
which  he  had  always  had  a  strong  predilection.  On  his 
return,  Gustavus  III.  employed  him  on  a  voyage  to  Greece, 
Syria,  and  Egypt,  and  at  the  same  time  appointed  him  titu- 
lar professor  of  the  university  of  Lunden.  He  departed 
accordingly  in  1776  for  Constantinople,  where  he  remained 
some  time  to  acquire  the  Turkish  language ;  and  was  af- 
terwards pursuing  his  journey,  when  he  was  seized  with 
the  plague,  and  died  at  Salonichi,  or  Salonica,  July  13, 
1779.  His  letters,  containing  an  account  of  his  travel&f, 
were  published  in  Swedish  at  Stockholm,  1778, 3  vols.  8vo. 
They  contain  many  curious  particulars  respecting  medals, 
manuscripts,  scarce  books,  and  some  interesting  anecdotes 
of  Voltaire,  whom  he  visited,  yet  he  is  accused  of  inac- 
curacy in  many  points;  but  it  ought  to  be  added,  tbffct 
these  letters  were  not  intended  for  publication*  * 

BION.     SeeMOSCHUS. 

BION,  a  Greek  philosopher,  who  flourished  300  B.  C. 
was  born  at  Borysthenes,  a  Greek  towo  on  the  borders  oi 
the  river  of  that  name,  now  the  Dneipen  Of  his  family, 
he  is  said  to  have  given  the  following  account  to  king  An« 
tigonus,  who  had  heard  something  of  his  mean  birth^  and 
thinking  to  embarrass  him,  demanded  bis  name,  his  .CQun« 
try,  his  origin^  &c.  Bion,  without  being  in  the  least  dis-* 
concerted,  answered,  '^  My  father  was  a  freed-man,  whbse 
employment  was  to  sell  salt-fish.  He  had  been  a  Scythian, 
born  on  the  banks  of  the  Borysthenes.  He  got  acquainted 
with  my  mother  in  a  place  of  bad  fame^  and  there  the 
couple  celebrated  their  hopeful  marriage.  My  father  af« 
terwards  committed  some  crime,  with  the  precise  nature  of 
which  I  am  unacquainted ;  and  for  this,  he,  his  wife,  and 
his  children,  were  exposed  to  sale.  I  was  then  a  sprightly 
boy.  An  orator  purchased  me :  and  on  his  death,  be- 
queathed to  me  all  his  effects.  I  instantly  tore  bis  will, 
threw  it  into  the  fire,  and  went  to  Athens,  wh'erel  applied 
to  the  study  of  philosophy."'  In  this  city  he  first  attached 
himself  to  Crates,  and  became  a  cynic,  and  then  embracied 
the  opinions  of  Theodorus,  the  atheist,  and  Theophrastus, 
and  at  last  becanae  a  philosopher  in  his  own  way,  without 
belonging  to  any  sect  The  name  of  philosopher,  bow- 
ever,  seems  ill  applied  to  him.     He  uttered,  indeed|  somQ 

.  *  Biog.  UniTerif  ne.-^axii  OnQmaitioso. 


S78  B  I  O  N. 

wise  and  moral  sayings,  but  his  general  conduct  was  that 
of  extreme  profligacy.  He  died  at  Chalcis,  and  during  h\» 
last  illness,  is  said  to  have  repented  of  his  libertinism,  for 
which  he  endeavoured  to  atone  by  superstitious  obser- 
vances. He  wrote  copiously  on  the  subject  of  morals,  and 
•Stobeus  has  preserved  a  few  fragments.  * 

BIONDI  (John  Francis),  was  born  in  Liesena,  an 
island  in  Dalmatia,  in  the  Gulf  of  Venice,  in  1572,  and 
Was  intrioduced  by  the  celebrated  sir  Henry  Wotton,  the 
Embassador  there,  to  the  notice  of  king  James  I.  He  was 
by  that  prince  sent  with  a  secret  commission  to  the  duke  of 
Savoy,  and  was  afterwards  made  a  gentleman  of  the  bed- 
chamber, and  received  the  honour  of  knighthood.  His 
elegant  **  History  of  the  Civil  Wars  betwixt  the  houses  of 
York  and  Lancaster,^'  which  was  written  in  Italian,  and 
translated  into  English  by  Henry  Carey,  earl  of  Mon-r 
mouth,  gained  him  great  reputation*  It  should  be  ob- 
served that,  like  other  foreign  writers  of  our  English  story, 
he  has  strangely  disfigured  the  proper  names.  His  history 
was  first  printed  at  Venice,  1637,  3  vols.  4to,  and  at  Bo- 
logna in  1647.  The  English  translation  appeared  in  1641. 
The  subsequent  troubles  in  England  prevented  him  from 
continuing  it  as  he  intended.  He  also  wrote  some  Italian 
romances.  He  married  a  sister  of  sir  Theodore  May  erne, 
and  went  from  England  to  the  canton  of  Berne,  where  he 
died  in  1644.* 

BIONDO.     See  FLAVIO, 

BIRAGO  (Francis),  an  Italian  author  of  great  autho- 
rity in  the  science  of  which  he  may  be  said  to  have  been 
profiessor,'  that  which  the  Italians  call  Scienza  cavalleresca, 
which  embraces  all  questions  relative  to  nobility,  the  pro- 
fession of  arms,  the  ancient  customs  of  chivalry,  and  the 
laws  of  honour.  He  was  born  in  1562,  of  a  noble  Milanese 
family,  and  lived  and  wrote  as  late  as  the  year  1637,  but 
beyond  that  his  history  cannot  be  traced.  Being  the  eld- 
est of  six  brothers,  he  assumed,  in  his  writings,  the  title 
of  signor  Metono  and  Siciano,  two  fiefs  belonging  to  his 
family  in  the  territory  of  Pavia.  From  Crescenzi,  a  con- 
temporary, and  author  of  a  *^  treatise  on  the  nobility  of 
Italy,"  we  learn  that  Birago  was  arbitrator  of  all  chivalrous 
diaputes  in  Lombardy :  and  that  in'  all  parts  of  Italy  he 

1  Stanley <— Gen.  Diet— Moreri.— -Fenelon*!  Livei  by  Cormack. — Bracker. 
*  Granj^r. — And  Granger's  Letters,  ip.  41.-- Bio|;.  UniT. — Walpole's  R^yal 
and  Kobie  Authors^  in  art.  Henry  earl  of  Monmouth. 


B  1  R  A  GO.  279 

was  consulted  as  an  oracle,  and  bis  opinions  were  decisiye, 
tieing  considered  as  a  gentleman  who  united  honourable 
spirit  with  high  blood.  He  wrote  several  works  on  the 
subject,  enumerated  by  Ginguen^,  the  principal  of  which 
were  collected  and  published  in  one  vol.  4to,  under  the 
title  *^  Opere  cavalleresche  distinte  in  quattro  libri,  ciod 
in  discorsi  >  consigli,  libro  I  e  II ;  e  decisioni,'.*  Bologna^ 
1686.^ 

BIRAGUE  (Clement),  an  engraver  on  precious  stones, 
was  born  at  Milan,  but  exercised  his  art  principally  in 
Spain  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century*  He  was 
the  first  who  discovered  a  method  of  engraving  on  the 
diamond,  which  before  was  thought  impenetrable  by  the 
graver.  The  first  work  he  executed  of  this  kind  was  a 
portrait  of  don  Carlos  the  unfortunate  son  of  Philip  II. 
He  ajso^  engraved,  on  diamond,  the  arms  of  Spain  as  a  seal 
for  that  prince. ' 

BIRAGUE  (Flaminio  de),  one  of  the  king  of  France's 
gentlemen  of  the  household,  distinguished  himself  for  his 
taste  for  French  poetry,  although  an  Italian  by  birth.  He 
took  Ronsard  for  his  model,  and  copied  at  least  his  faults. 
His  "  Premieres  oeuvres  poetiques"  were  printed  at  Paris," 
in  1581  and  1385,  12mo,  dedicated  to  his  uncle  Rene  de 
Birague,  cardinal  and  chancellor  of  France,  They  consist 
of  a  number  of  sonnets,  and  other  minor  pieces,  addressed 
to  a  young  lady,  named  Maria,  for  whom  he  professed  a 
passion,  but  he  regrets  the  time  he  has  lost  in  that  firuit* 
less  pursuit.  He  wrote  also,  according  to  general  opinion, 
a  satire  entitled,  **  UEnfer  de  la  mere  Cardine,  traitant 
de  rhorrible  bataille  qui  fut  aux  enfers,  aux  noces  du  por* 
tier  Cerberus  et  de  Cardine,"^  Paris,  1583,  8vo,  and  1597, 
both  editions  very  rare.  In  1793,  however,  the  elder  Di- 
dot  thought  it  worth  while  to  print  an  elegant  edition  in 
8vo,  of  only  one  hundred  copies,  eight  of  which  are  on 
vellum. ' 

BIRCH  (Thomas),  a  late  valuable  historical  and  bio- 
graphical writer,  was  born  in  the  parish  of  St.  John^s' 
Clerkenwell,  on  the  23d  of  November,  1705.  His  parents 
were  both  of  them  quakers,  and  his  father,  Joseph  Birch, 
was  a  coffee-mill  maker  by  trade.  Mr.  Joseph  Birch  en- 
deavoured to  bring  up  his  son  Thomas  to  his  own  business ; 
but  so  ardent  was  the  youth^s  passion  for  reading,  that  he 

}  JiogrUnJTWclk,  »  rti4»  •  Ibid, 


Jdo  BIRCH. 

'solicited  his  father  to  be  indulged  in  hi^  inclination,  pro* 
mising,  in  that  case,  to  provide  for  himself.     The  first 
school  he  went  to  was  at  Hemel-hempsted  in  Hertfordshire, 
kept  by  John  Owen,  a  rigid  quaker,  for  whom  Mr.  Birch 
afterwards  officiated,  some  little  while,  as  an  usher,  but  at 
present  he  made  very  little  progress.     The  next  school  in 
which  he  received  his  education  was  taught  by  one  Welby, 
who  lived  near  TurnbuU-street,  Clerkenwell,  a  man  who 
never  had  above  eight  or  ten  scholars  at  a  time,  whom  he 
professed  to  instruct  in  the  Latin  tongue  in  the  short  space 
of  a  year  ajid  a  half,  and  had  great  success  with  Mr.  Birch, 
who  afterwards  lived  with  him  as  an  usher;  as  he  also  after- 
wards was  to  Mr.  Besse, .  the  £amous  quaker  in  George's 
court  near  St.  John's  lane,  who  published  the  posthumous 
works  of  Claridge.     It  is  farther  said,   that  he  went  to 
Ireland  with  dean   Smedley  ;  but  in  what  year  he  passed 
over  to  that  country,  and  how  long  he  resided  with  the 
dean,  cannot  now  be  ascertained,     in  his  removals  as  sea 
vsher,  he  always  took  care  to  get  into  a  still  better  school, 
and  where  he  might  have  the  greatest  opportunity  of  stu* 
dying  the  most  valuable  books,  in  which  he  was  indefati- 
gable, and  stole  many  hours  from   sleep  to  increase  his 
stock  of  knowledge.   By  this  unremitting  diligence,  though 
he  had  not  the  happiness  of  an  university  education,  he 
sf}on  became  qualified  to  take  holy  orders  in  the  church  of 
England ;  and  as  his  early  connections  were  of  a  different 
kind,  his  being  ordained  was  a  matter  of  no  small  surprise 
to  his  old  acquaintance.    In  1728,  he  married  the  daughter 
Qrf  one  Mr,  Cox,  a  clergyman  to  whom  he  was  afterwards 
cqrate ;  and  in  this  union  he  was  singularly  happy :  but 
his  felicity  was  of  a  short  duration,  .Mrs.  Birch  dying  in 
le$s  than  twelve  months  after  their  marriage.     The  dis- 
order which  carried  her  off  was  a  consumption  accelerated 
'  by  childbearing,  and  almost  in  the  very  article  of  her 
death  she  wrote  to  her  husband  the  following:  letter: 

•^  This  day .  I  ret^^rn  you,  my  dearest  life,  my  sincere, 
hearty  thanks  for  every  favour  bestowed  X)n  your  most  faith- 
ful and  obedient  wife, 

"  July  31,  1729.  Hannah  Birch." 

How  much  Mr.  Birch  was  affected  by  this  calamity  ap« 
pears  from  some  verses  written  by  him,  August  3d,  1729, 
on  his  wife's  coffin,  and  inserted  in  Mrs.  Howe*s  Miscel- 
laneous Works.  That  Mrs.  Birch  was  a  woman  of  very 
amiable  accomplishments,   is  not  only  evident  from  the 


BIRCH.  281 

verses  now  meiitionecl^  bat  from  two* Latin  epitaphs  drawn 
up  for  her ;  one  by  her  hasband,  and  the  other  by  Dr.  Dale^ 
which  last  was  translated  into  English  by  Mr.  James  Ralph* 
In  both  these  epitaphs,  she  is  celebrated  as  having  pos- 
ses.sed  an  uncommon  share  of  knowledge  and  taste,  and 
many  virtues. '  After  this  melaneholy  event,    he  was  or-« 
dained  deacon  by  the  bishop  of  Salisbury^  Dr.   Hoadly, 
Jan.  17,  1730,  and  priest  by  the  same  prelate,  Dec.  21, 1 73 1^ 
and  at  the  same  time  was  presented  to  the  rectory  of  Sid«« 
dington  St.  Mary,  and  the  vicarage  of  Siddington  St.  Peter, 
m  Gloucestershire.     He  had  been   recommended,  by  a 
common  friend,  to  the  friendship  and  favour  of  the  late 
lord  high  chancellor  Hardwicke,   then  attorney-general ; 
to  whom,  and  to  the  late  earl  of  Hardwicke,  he  was  in- 
debted for  ail  his  preferments.     The  chancellor  gave  him 
the  living  of  Ulting'in  the  county  of  Essex,  to  which  be 
was  instituted  by  Dn  Gibson,  bishop  of  London,  on  the 
20th  of  May,  and  he  took  possession  of  it  on  the  day  fol- 
lowing.    In  1734,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  domestic 
chaplains  to  William  earl  of  Kilmarnock,  the  unfortunate 
nobleman  who  was  afterwards  beheaded,  on  the  18th  of 
August,  !74'6,  for  having  been  engaged  in  the  rebellion  of 
1745.     The  earl  of  Kilmarnock  was,  we  believe,  in  more 
early  life,  understood  to  be  a  whig ;  and  under  no  othet 
character  could   Mr.  Birch  have  been  introduced  to  his 
lordship's  notice.     On  the  20th  of  February,  1734-5,' Mr* 
Birch  had  the  honour  of  being  chosen  a  member  of  the 
royal  society,  sir  Hans  Sloane  taking  a  leading  part  in  the 
election.     The  same  honour  was  done  him  on  the  1 1th  of 
December  1735,  by  the  society  of  antiquaries ;  of  which 
be  afterwards  became  director.     A  few  weeks  before  he 
was  chosen  into  the  latter,  the  Marischal  college  of  Aberdeen 
had  conferred  on  him,  by  diploma,  the  degree  of  master 
of  arts.     In  the  Spring  of  1743,  by  the  favour  of  bis  noble  ' 
patron  before  mentioned,  he  received  a  more  substantial 
benefit ;  being  presented  by  the  crown  to  the  rectory  of 
Landewy  Welfrey  in  the  county  of  Pembroke.     To  this 
benefice,  which  was  a  sinecure,  he  was  instituted  on  the 
7th  of  May,  by  Dr.  Edward  Willes,  bishop  of  St.  David's. 
On  the  24th  of  February,  1743-4,  be  was  presented  to  the 
rectories  of  8t.  Michael,  Wood- street,  and  St.  Mary,  Stain- 
ing, united.     His  next  preferment  was  likewise  in  the  city 
6t  London  ;  being  to  the  united  rectories  of  St.  Margaret 
Pattens,    and  St.  Gabriel,  Fenchurch-street,  to  which  he 


^62  BIRCH. 

was  presented  iii  the  beginning  of  February,  174ir»6.     In 
January,  1752,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the 
royal  society,  in  the  room  of  Dr.  Cromwell  Mortimer,  de- 
ceased.    In  Jsinuary  1753,  the  Mariscbal  college  of  Ab^« 
deen  created  him  doctor  of  divinity ;  and  in  that  year,  the 
same  honour  was  conferred  on  him  by  that  excellent  pre* 
late.  Dr.  Thonms  Herring,  archbishop  of  Canterbury.    Our 
author  was  also  a  trustee  of  the  British  Museum.     The  last 
preferment  given  to  Dr.  Bifch,  was  the  rectory  of  Depden 
in  Essex ;  for  which  he  was  indebted  to  the  late  earl  of 
Hardvvicke.     Depden  itself,  indeed,  was  in  the  patronage 
of  Mr.  Chiswell,  and  in  the  possession  of  the  rev.  Dr.  Cock. 
But  the  benefice  in  lord  Hardwicke's  gift,  being  at  too  great 
a  distance  from  town,  to  be  legally  held  by  Dr.  Birch,  he  ob^ 
tained  an  exchange  with  Dr.  Cock.  Dr.  Birch  was  instituted 
to  Depden  by  the  late  eminent  bishop  Sherlock,  on  the  25tik 
of  February  1761  ;  and  he  continued  possessed  oi  this  pre* 
ferment,  together  with  the  united  rectories  of  St.  Margaret 
Pattens,  and  St.  Gabriel,  Fenchurch-street,  till  his  decease. 
In  1765,  he  resigned  his  ofGce  of  secretary  to  the  royal 
society,   and   was  succeeded  by   Dr.  Maty.      Dr.  Birch'» 
Iiealth  declining  about  this  time,  he  was  ordered  to  ride  for 
the  recovery  of  it;  but  being  a  bad  horseman,  and  going 
out,  contrary  to  advice,  on  a  frosty  day,  be  was  unfortu- 
ni&tely  thrown  from  his  horse,  on  the  road  betwixt  London 
^nd  Hampstead,  and  killed  on  the  spot.    Dr.  William  Wat-^ 
son,  of  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the 
accident  of  the  &11,  hastened  to  the  relief  of  his  friend,  but 
in  vain.     It  is  uot  known  whether  Dr.  Birches  fall  might 
9ot  have  been  occasioned  by  an  apoplexy.     This  melan- 
choly event  happened  on  the  9th  of  January  1766,  in  the 
61st  year  of  his  age,  to  the  great  regret  of  the  doctor's 
numerous  literary  friends.     Some  days  after  hi^  death,  he 
was  buried  in  the  chancel  of  his  own  church  of  St.  Mar«> 
garet  Pattens.     Dr.  Birch  had,  in  his  Ufe*time,  been  very 
generous  to  his  relations ;  and  none  that  were  near  to  him 
being  living  at  his  decease,  he  bequeathed  his  library  of 
books  and  manuscripts,  many  of  which  are  valuable,  to 
the  British  Museum.     He,  likewise,  left  the  remainder  gf 
his  fortune,  which  amounted  to  not  much  more  than  five 
hundred  pounds,  to  be  laid  out  in  government  securities, 
for  the  purpose  of  applying  the  interest  to  increase  the 
stipend  of  the  three  assistant  librarians.     Thus  manifesting 
at  his  death,  as  he  had  done  during  his  whole  Ilfei  hia  ^« 


B  I  R  C  H.  Mi 

^ect  for  literature,  and  biis  desire  to  promote  useful  knour* 
ledge. 

Having  related  the  more  personal  and  private  circum- 
stances  of  Dr.  Birch's  history,  we  proceed  to  his  various 
publications.  The  6rst  great  work  he  engaged  in,  was 
^^  The  General  Dictionary,  historical  and  critical ;''  wherein 
a  new  translation  of.  that  of  the  celebrated  Mr.  Bayle  was 
included ;  and  which  was  interspersed  with  several  thou-* 
sand  lives  never  before  published.  It  was  on  the  29th  of 
April,  1734,  that  Dr.  Birch,  in  conjunction  with  the  rev. 
Mr.  John  Peter  Bernard,  and  Mr.  John  Lockman,  agreed 
with  the  booksellers  to  carry  on  this  important  undertake 
ing;  and  Mr.  George  Sale  was  employed  to  draw  up  the 
articles  relating  to  oriental  history.  The  whole  design 
was  completed  in  ten  volumes,  folio;  the  first  of  which 
appeared  in  1734,  and  the  last  in  1741.  It  is  universally 
allowed,  that  this  work  contains  a  very  extensive  and  use-> 
ful  body  of  biographical  knowledge.  We  are  not  told 
what  were  the  particular  articles  written  by  Dr.  Birch ; 
but  there  is  no  doubt  of  his  having  executed  a  great  part 
of  the  dictionary:  neither  is  it,  we  suppose,  any  dispa- 
ragement to  his  coadjutors,  to  say,  that  he  was  superior. 
to  them  in  abilities  and  reputation,  with  the  exception  of 
Mr.  George  Sale,  who  was,  without  controversy,  eminently^ 
qualified  for  the  department  he  had  undertaken.  The 
next  great  design  in  which  Dr.  Birch  engaged,  was  the. 
publication  of  "  Thurloe's  State  Papers."  This  collection, 
which,  comprised  seven  volumes  in  folio,  came  out  in  1742. 
It  is  dedicated  to  the  late  lord  chancellor  Hardwicke,  and 
'there  is  prefixed  to  it  a  life  of  Thurloe ;  but.  whether  it 
was  written  or  not  by  our  author,  does  not  appear.  The 
same  life  had  been  separately  published  not  long  before. 
The  letters  and  papers  in  this  collection  throw  the  greatest 
light  on  the  period  to  which  they  relate,  and  are  accom- 
panied with  proper  references,  and  a  complete  index  to 
^acb  volume,  yet  was  a  work  by  which  the  proprietors* 
were  great  losers.  In  1744,  Dr.  Birch  published,  in  octavo, 
a  **  l^ife  of  the  honourable  Robert  Boyle,  esq ;"  which 
hath  since  be^n  prefixed  to  the  quarto  edition  of  the  works 
of  that  philosopher.  In  the  same  year,  our  author  began 
his  assistance  to  Houbraken  and  Vertue,  in  their  design  of 
publishing,  in  folio,  the  ^^  Heads  of  illustrious  persons  of 
Great  Britain,"  engraved  by  those  two  artists,  but  chiefly.* 
hy  Mr.  Houbraken.    To  each  bead  was  annexed,  by  Dn 


284  BIRCH. 

Birch,  the  life  and  character  of  the  person  representecil. 
The  first  volume  of  this  work,  which  came  out  in  numbers, 
was  completed  in  1747,  and  the  second  in  1752.  Our 
author's  concern  in  this  undertaking  did  not  hinder  bis 
prosecuting,  at  the  same  time,  other  historical  disquisi- 
tions :  for,  in  1747,  appeared,  in  octavo,  *^  His  inquiiy 
into  the  share  which  king  Charles  the  First  had  in  the 
transactions  of  the  earl  of  Glamorgan.^'  A  second  edition 
of  the  Inquiry  was  published  in  1756,  and  it  was  a  work 
that  excited  no  small  degree  of  attention.  In  1751,  Dn 
Birch  was  editor  of  the  ^'  Miscellaneous  works  of  sir  Wal- 
ter Raleigh ;''  to  which  was  prefixed  the  life  of  that  un- 
fortunate and  injured  man.  Previously  to  this,  Dr.  Birch 
published  ^^  An  historical  view  of  the  negociations  between 
the  courts  of  Ed^land,  France,  and -Brussels,  from  1592 
to  1617  ;  extracted  chiefly  from  the  MS  State  Papers  of 
sir  Thomas  Edmondes,  knight,  embassador  in  France,  and 
at  Brussels,  and  treasurer  of  the  household  to  the  kings 
James  I.  and  Charles  I.  ^nd  of  Anthony  Bacpn,  esq.  bro- 
ther to  the  lord  chancellor  Bacon.  To  which  is  added,  a 
relation  of  the  state  of  France,  with  the  character  of  Henry 
IV.  and  the  principal  persons  of  that  court,  drawn  up  by 
sir  George  Carew,  upon  his  return  from  his  embassy  there 
in  1609,  and  addressed  to  king  James  I.  never  before 
printed."  This  work,  which  consists  of  one  volume,  in 
octavo,  appeared  in  1749;  and,  in  an  introductory  discourse 
to  the  honourable  Philip  Yorke,  esq.  (the  late  earl  of 
Hardwicke),  Dr.  Birch  makes  some  reflections  on  the  uti- 
lity of  deducing  history  from  its  only  true  and  unerring 
sources,  the  original  letters  and  papers  of  those  eminent^ 
men,  who  were  the  principal  actors  in  the  administration 
of  affairs ;  after  which  he  gives  some  account  of  the  lives 
of  sir  Thomas  Edmondes,  sir  George  Carew,  and  Mr.  An- 
thony Bacon.  The  "  Historical  View*'  is  undoubtedly  a 
valuable  performance,  and  hath  brought  to  light  a  variety 
of  particulars  relative  to  the  subjects  and  the  period  treated 
of,  which  before  were  either  not  at  all,  or  not  so  fully 
known.  In  1751,  was  published  by  our  author,  an  edition, 
in  two  volumes,  8vo,  of  the  "  Theological,  mora),  dra- 
matic, and  poetical  works  of  Mrs.  Catherine  Cockburn;'' 
with  an  account  of  her  life.  In  the  next  year  came  out 
his  '*  Life  of  the  most  reverend  Dr.  John  TUlotson,  lord 
archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Compiled  chiefly  from  his 
original  papers  and  letters.'*     A  second  edition^  corrected 


B  I  R  C  H.  235 

an3  enlarged,  appeared  in  1753.     This  work,  which  wa» 
dedicated  to  archbishop  Herritig,  is  one  of  the  most  pleas- 
ing and  popular  of  Dr.  Birch's  performances;  apd  he  has 
done  great  justice  to  Dr.  Tillotson's  memory,  character, 
and   virtues.     Our  biographer  hath  likewise  intermixed 
with  his  narrative  of  the  good  prelate's  transactions,  short 
accounts  of  the  persons  occasionally  mentioned ;  a  method 
which  he  has  pursued  in  some  of  his  other  publications. 
In  1753,  he  revised  the  quarto  edition,  in  two  volumes,  of 
Milton's  prose  works,  and  added  a  new  life  of  that  great 
poet  and  writer.     Dr.  Birch  gave  to  the  world,  in  the  fol- 
lowing year,  his  "  Memoirs  of  the  reign  of  queen  Eliza-* 
beth,  from  the  year  1581,  till  her  death.     In  which  the 
secret  intrigues  of  her  court,  and  the  conduct  of  her  fa-^ 
vourite,  Robert  earl  of  Essex,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  • 
are  particularly  illustrated.     From  the  original  papers  of 
his  intimate  friend,  Anthony  Bacon,  esq.  and  other  manu- 
scripts never  before  published."     These  memoirs,  which 
are  inscribed  to  the  earl  of  Hardwicke,  give  a  minute  ac- 
count of  the  letters  and  materials  from  which  they  are 
taken  :  and  the  whole  work  undoubtedly  forms  a  very  va- 
luable collection-;  in  which  our  author  has  shewn  himself 
(as  in  his  other  writings)  to  be  a  faithful  and  accurate  com- 
piler;  and  in  which,  besides  a  full  display  of  the  temper 
and  actions  of  the  earl  of  Essex,  much  light  is  thrown  oir 
the  characters  of  the'  Cecils,  Bacons,  and  many  eminent 
persons  of  that  period.     The  book  is  now  becoming  scarce, 
and,  as  it  may  not  speedily  be  republished,  is  rising  in  its 
value.     This  is  the  case,  likewise,  with  regard  to  the  edi- 
tion  of  sir  Walter   Raleigh's  miscellaneous  works.     Dr. 
Birch's  next  publication  was  "  The  history  of  the  Royal 
Society  of  London,  for  improving  of  natural  knowledge, 
from  its  first  rise.     In  which  the  most  considerable  of  those 
papers,  communicated  to  the  society,  which  have  hitherto 
not  been  published,  are  inserted  in  their  proper  order,  as 
a  supplement  to  the  Philosophical  Transactions."     The 
two  first  volumes  of  this  performance,  which  was  dedicated 
to  his  late  majesty,  appeared  in  1756,  and  the  two  other 
volumes  in  1757.     The  history  is  carried  on  to  the  end  of 
the  year  1687 ;  and  if  the  work  had  been  continued,  and 
had  been  c<Miducted  with  the  same  extent  and  minuteness^ 
it  would  have  been  a  very  voluminous  undertaking.     But, 
thoagh  it  may,  perhaps,  be  justly  blamed  in  this  respect, 
it  certinnly  contains  many  curious  and  entertaining  anec* 


2S6  BIRCH. 

» 

dotes  concerning  the  manner  of  the  society^s  proceeding* 
at  their  first  establisboient.     It  is  enriched^  likewise,  with 
a  number  of  personal  circumstances  relative  to  the  mem^ 
bersy  and  with  biographical  accounts  of  such  of  the  knbre 
considerable  of  them  as  died  in  the  course  of  each  year* 
In  1760,  came  out,  in  one  volume,  8vo,  our  author^s  "  Life 
of  Henry  prince  of  Wales,  eldest  son  of  king  James  I. 
Compiled  chiefly  from  his  own  papers,  and  other  manu- 
scripts^ never  before  published.*'     It  is  dedicated  to  his 
present  majesty,  then  prince  of  Wales.     Some  have  ob- 
jected to  this  work,  that  it  abounds  too  much  with  trifling 
details,  and  that  Dr.  Birch  has  not  given  sufficient  scope 
to  such  reflections  and  disquisitions  as  arose  from  his  sub- 
ject.    It  must,  nevertheless,  be  acknowledged,  that  it  af- 
fords a  more  exact  and  copious  account  than  had  hitherto 
appeared  of  a  prince  whose  memory  has  always  been  re- 
markably popular;  and  that  various  facts,  respecting  se- 
veral .  other  eminent  characters,    are  occasionally  intro- 
duced»  Another  of  his  publications  was,  ^^  Letters,  speeches^ 
charges,  advices,  &c.  of  Francis  Bacon,  lord  viscount  St. 
Alban,    lord  chancellor  of  England.'*      This  collection^ 
which  is  comprised  in  one  volume,  8vo,  and  is  dedicated 
to  the  honourable  Charles  Yorke,  esq.  appeared  in  1763. 
It  is  taken  from  some  papers  which  hsid  been  originally  i^ 
the  possession  of  Dr.  Kawley,  lord  Bacon's  chaplai%  whose 
executor,  Mr.  John  Rawley,  having  put  them  into  the 
bands  of  Dr.  Tenison,  they  were,  at  length,  depointed  in 
the  manuscript  library  at  Lambeth.     Dr.  Birch,  speaking 
of  these  papers  of  lord  Bacon,  says,  that  it  can  scarcely 
be  imagined,  but  that  the  bringing  to  light,  from,  obscurity 
and  oblivion.,  the  remains  of  so  enmient  a  person,  will  be 
thought  an  acquisition  not  inferior  to  the  discovery  (if  the 
ruins  of  Herculaneum  should  afford  such  a  treasure)  of -a 
new  set  of  the  epistles  of  Cicero,  whom  our  immortal 
cpuntryman  most  remarkably  resembled  as  an  orator,  a 
philosopher,  a  writer,  a  lawyer,  and  a  statesman.     Though 
this,  perhaps,  is  speaking  too  highly  of  a  collection,  which 
contains  many  things  in  it  seemingly  not  very  material,  it 
must,  at  the  same  time,  be  allowed,  that  nothing  can  be 
lot^lly  uninteresting  which  relates,  to  so  illustrious  a  man^ 
or  tends,  in  any  degree,  to  give  a  farther  insight  into  bift 
character.     To  this  catalogue  we  have  still  to  add  "  Pro- 
fessor Qreaves's  miscellaneous  worj^s,"  1737,  in  two  vohk 
*VQ.     Dn  Cudworth's  "  Intellectual  System/'  (improved 


B  I  It  C  H.  2S7 

fieom  the  Latiit  edition  of  Mdsheim;)  his  discourse  on  die 
true  notion  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  two  sermons^  with 
an  account  of  his  life  and  writings,  1743,  in  two  vols.  .4to. 
An  edition  of  Spenser's  "  Fairy  Queen,"  1751,  in  three 
vols.  4to,  with  prints  from  designs  by  Kenu  ^^  Letters 
between  col.  Robert  Haoimond,  governor  of  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  and  the  committee  of  lords  and  commons  at  Derby- 
bouse,  general  Fairfax,  lieut.-general  Cromwell,  commis- 
;  ^>^y  general  Ireton,  &c.  relating  to  king  Charles  L  whiJe 

I  he  was  confined  in  Carisbrooke-castle  in  that  island.     Now 

first  published.  To  which  is  prefixed  a  letter  from  John 
Ashbumham,  esq.  to  a  friend,  concerning  his  deportment 
towards  the  king,  in  his  attendance  on  his  majesty  at 
£[ampton«court,  and  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,"  1764,  Svo^ 
Dr.  Birch's  last  essay,  "  The  life  of  Dr.  Ward,"  which 
was  finished  but  a  week  before  his  death,  was  published 
by  Dr.  Maty,  in  1766. 

Mr.  Ayscough  has  Extracted,  from  a  small  pocket-book 
lielonging  to  Dr.  Birch,  the  following  memoranda  of  some 
pieces  written  by  him,  of  which  he  was  not  before  known 
to  be  the  author.  1726,  '^  A  Latin  translation  of  Hughes^s 
Ode  to  the  Creator."  1727,  "  Verses  on  the  General 
history  of  Printing ;"  published  in  the  General  history  of 
Frinting.  Collections  for  Smedley's  View,  1728,  **  Abe- 
lard  to  Philotas."  1732,  Began  the  General  History.  1739, 
'^  Account  of  Alga,"  published  in  the  Works  of  the  Learned 
for  July.  ^^  Account  of  Milton,"  published  in  the  Works 
of  the  Learned.  1741,  Wrote  the  letter  of  Cleander  to 
Smerdis,  in  the  Athenian  Letters.  1 742,  Wrote  an  ac* 
count  of  Orr's  sermon,  in  the  Works  of  the  Learned.  1 743, 
Wrote  the  preface  to  Boyle's  works.  1760,  By  a  letter 
from  Dr.  3tonhotise,  it  appears  that-  Dr.  Birch  was  the 
author  of  the  Life  df  the  rev.  Mr.  James  Hervey,  which  is 
)>refixed  to  that  gentleman's  writings.  He  was  employed, 
likewise,  in  correcting  a  great  number  of  publications, 
and  among  the  rest  Murden's  State  Papers.  At  the  time 
of  the  doctor's  death,  he  had  prepared  for  the  press  a  coU 
lection  of  letters,  to  which  he  had  given  the  title  of  *^  His* 
torical  Letters,  written  in  the  reigns  of  Janaes  I.  and 
Charles  I.  containing  a  detail  of  the  public  transacticKis 
and  events  in  Great  Britain  during  that  period ;  with  a  va^p- 
tiety  of  particulars  not  mentioned  by  our  historians.  .Now 
first  published  from  the  originals  in  the  British  Museum, 
\  Paper-^office,,  and  private  collections."     These  are  all  th^ 

separate  publications,  or  intended  works,  of  Dr.  Birch  that 


2&3  B  IRC  H. 

biav€  come  to  our.knowledge,  excepting  a  Sermon  on  tbl» 
proof  of  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God,  from  the  fiame 
and  constitution  of  man^  preached  before  tbe  college  of 
Physiciaiis,  in  1749,  in  consequence  of  lady  Sadlier'switL:- 
to  which  we  may  add/  that  he  revised  new  editions  of  Ba- 
con's»  Boyle^s^  and  Tillotson's  works.     The  liv^es  of  Boyl^ 
and  Tillotson,  though  printed  by  themselves,  were  dMR^n 
lip  partly  with  a  view  to  their  being  prefixed  to  these  great 
fioen's  .writifigs.     It  would  swell  this  article-too  much,  weve- 
we  to  enter  into  a  detail  of  our  author^s  comnmuications  to 
the  royal  society,  and  of  tbe  papers  transmitted  by  him  to 
tbat  illustrious  body.     Whoever  looks  into  his  history  of 
the  early  proceedings  of  the  society,  will  have  no  doubt  of 
the  assiduity  and  diligence  with  which  he  discharged  his 
peculiar  duty  as  secretary.     But  there  is  nothing  which 
'Sets  Dr*  Birches  industry  in  a  more  striking  light  than  the 
vast  number  of  transcripts  which  he  made  with  hisown 
hands.    Among  these,  not  to  mention  many  other  instan- 
ces, there  are  no  less  than  sixteen  volumes  in  quarto,  of 
Anthony  Bacon's  papers,  transcribed  from  the  Lambeth 
libi^a^ry  and  other  collections ;    and  eight  mone  Volumes 
of  the  saqote  size,  relative  to  history  and  literature.     Our 
author's  correspondence,    by  lett/rs,  was,  likewise,  ^ry 
large  and  extensive ;  of  which  numerous  proofs  occur  in  ^ 
the   British   Museum.     What   enabled    Dr.  Birch  to  go 
through  such  a  variety  of  undertakings,  was  his  bein^k 
very  early  riser.     By  this  method,  he  had  executed  th^ 
business  of  the  morning  before  numbers  of  people  had  be^ 
gufi  it :  and,  indeed,  it  is  the  peculiar  advantage  of  rising 
betimes,  tbat  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  any  interruptions,  - 
avocations,  or  etigagements  whatever,  to  derive  a  maii  of 
the  hours  which  have  already  been  well  employed,  or  to  - 
rob  him  of  the  consolation  of  reflecting,  that  he  hatb  not 
speqt  the  day  in  vain.     With  all  this  closeness  of  applica- 
tion. Dr.  Birch  was  not  a  solitary  recluse.    He  was  of  a  cbeer- 
ful:  and  social  temper,  and  entered  much  into  conversation  ' 
with  the  wojid.     He  was  personally  connected  with  most  of 
theliterary  men  of  his  time,  and  with  some  of  them  he  maiif- 
tained  an  intimate  friendship,  such  as  sir  Hans  Sloane,  J^t. 
Mead,  Dt4  Salter,  Mr.  Jortin,  and  Dr*  Maty ;  DanfielWriiy, 
esq.  Dr.  Morton,'Dr.  Ducaml,  Dr.  William  Wal<ion,  &c.  &c. 
'*Wnh  r^ard  to^the  great,  though  perhaps  he  stood  w^U  with 
mutj  di  ybem^  his  chief' connection  was  with  the  earls  of  ' 
Hasrdwiekei,  ^nd  with  the  rest  of  Ihe  bnmohes  of  that*  noble 


BIRCH.  289 

mncl  respectable  family.  No  one  was  more  ready  than  Dr. 
Birch  to  assist  his  fellow^ creatures,  or  entered  more  ardently 
imo  useful  and  laudable  undertakings.  He  was  particularly 
active  in  the  Society  for  promoting  literature  by  the  printing 
of  books,  to  which  we  are  indebted  for  the  publication  of 
Tanner^s  Bibliotheca  Britannico-Hibernica,  and  some  few 
other  valuable  works.  In  short,  Dr.  Birch  was  entitled  to 
that  highest  praise,  of  being  a  good  man,  as  well  as  a  man  of 
knowledge  and  learning.  His  sentiments  with  respect  to 
subjects  of  divinity  resembled  those  of  bishop  Hoadiy. 

We  have  seen  that  it  has  been  objected  to  Dr.  Birch, 
that  be  was  sometimes  too  minute  in  his  publications,  and 
that  he  did  not  always  exercise,  with  due  severity,  the 
power  of  selection.  The  charge  must  be  confessed  not  to 
be  totally  groundless.  But  it  may  be  alleged  in  our-  au- 
thorns  favour,  that  a  man  who  has  a  deep  and  extensive  ac- 
quintance  with  a  subject,  often  sees  a  connection  and  im- 
])ortance  in  some ,  smaller  circumstances,  which  may  not 
immediately  be  discerned  by  others ;  and,  on.  that  account, 
may  have  reasons  for  inserting  them,  that  will  escape  the 
notice  of  superficial  minds.  The  same  circumstance  is' no- 
ticed in  the  following  character  of  Dr.  Birch  by  oneof  oiir 
predecessors  in  this  Dictionary,  Dr.  Heathcote,  who  knew 
Br.  Birch  well,  and  consorted  with  him,  for  the  last  thir- 
teen years  of  his  life.  Dr.  Heathcote  ^^  believes  him  to 
have  been  an  honest,  humane,  and  generous  man ;  warm 
and  zealous  in  his  attachments  to  persons  and  principle, 
but  of  universal  benevolence,  and  ever  ready  to  promote 
the  happiness  of  all  men.  He  was  cheerful,  lively,  and. 
spirited^  in  the  highest  degree ;  and,  notwithstanding  the 
labours  and  drudgery  he  went  through  in  his  historical  pur- 
suits, no.  man  mixed  more  in  company ;  but  he  was  a  very 
early  riser,  and  thus  had  done  the  business  of  a  morning  be-* 
fore  others  had  begun  it.     He  was  not  a  man  of  learning, 

Eroperly  90  called ;  he  understood  the  Latin  and  French 
mguages,  not  critically,  but  very  well ;  of .  the  Greek  be 
knew  veiy  little.  He  was,  however,  a  man  of  great  general 
knowledge,  and  excelled  particularly  in  modern  history. 
As  a  collector  and  compiler,  he  was  in  the  tnain  judicious 
in  the  choice  of  his  materials;  but  was  sometimes  too 
minute  in  uninteresting  details*  and  did  not  always  exer- 
cise, with  due  severity,  the  power  of  selection.  He  had 
a. favourite  position,  that  we  could  not  be  possessed  of  too 
flflf&ny  facts ;  and  he  never  departed  from  it,  though  it  waA 
VOL.V.  U 


290  •  BIRCH. 

often  urg^d  to  him,  that  facts,  ivhich  admit  of  no  reason- 
ing, and  tend  to  no  edification,  which  can  only  serve  to 
encumber,  and,  as  it  were,  smother  useful  intelligencei 
had  better  be  consigned  to  oblivion,  than  recorded.  And 
indeed,  iii  this  very  way  of  biographical  compilation,  we' 
have  always  been  of  opinion,  that,  if  it  were  less  fashion- 
able to  relate  particulars  of  every  man,  which  are  common 
to  almost  all  men,  we  should  be  equally  knowing,  ahd  our 
libraries  would  be  by  far  less  crowded.  In  his  manners, 
Dr.  Birch  was  simple  and  unaffected;  very  communicative, 
aiid  forward  to  assist  in  any  useful  undertaking ;  and  of  a 
spirit  perfectly  disinterested,  and  (as  his  friends  used  to 
tell  him)  too  inattentive  to  his  own  emolument.'^  ^ 

BIRCHINGTON  (Stephen),  or  Bryckinton,  or  Brick- 
^  INGTON,  SO  called  from  Birchington,  in  the  isle  of  Tbanet, 
where  he  was  born,  was  a  Benedictine  monk^  belonging 
to  the  church  of  Canterbury,  into  which  order  he  entered 
about  the  year  1382.  He  wrote  a  history  of  the  arch- 
bishops of  Canterbury  to  the  year  1368,  which  forms  the 
first  article  in  the  first  volume  of  .Wharton's  Anglia  Sacra, 
who  copied  it  from  the  MS.  in  the  Lambeth  library* 
Other  historical  MSS.  in  the  same  library  are  attributed  to 
him,  hot  remain  unpublished.  He  is  supposed  to  have 
died  in  1407.' 

BIRCRBEK  (Simon),  an  English  divine  of  theseven-^ 
teeoth  century,  was  born  in  1584:,  and  in  1600  became  a 
student  in  Queen's  college,  Oxford,  where  he  took  bia 
master's  degree,  and  obtained  a  fellowship.  In  1607  he 
went  into  holy  orders,  and  acquired  much  reputation  for 
his  preaching,  and  among  the  learned,  for  his  ayqoaint-i* 
ance  with  the  fathers  and  schoolmen..  In  1616  he  was  ad« 
mitted  to  the  reading  of  the  sentences,  and  the  year  fel* 
lowing  became  vicar  of  the  church  of  Gilltng,  and  the 
chapel  of  Forcet,  near  Richmond,  in  Yorkshire,  where  he 
increased  his  popularity  by  his  punctual  discharge  of  the 
pastoral  office,  and  by  his  exemplary  life.  During  the 
usurpation  he  was  not  ejected  from  Uiis  living,  and  died 
Sept.  16561  His  principal  work,  which  was  highly  valued 
by  Selden  ind  other  learned  men,  is  entitled  **  The  Pro-* 

testant's  etidence,  db^ing  that  for  1500  years  next  after 

» 

*  Biog.  Brit  and  eorrectioQt  prefixed  to  tbe  subsequent  ▼olumes.-^NichoU's 
Bowyer. 

f  vnmftiom'9  AagUa  Sscm,  vol.  I.  Pr«t  p.  xbt.  «*T«iiwr.<— FabrtcU  BttU. 
UtMed. 


'« 


S 


B  1  R  C  K  B  E  I^.  29A 

I 

Christy  divers  guides  of  God^s  church  htxe  in  sQtidiy 
points  of  religion  taught  as  the  church  of  England  now 
doth/'  London^  1634,  4to,  and  in  1657,  folio,  much  eii# 
larged.  Some  histories  of  the  church,  particularly  that  of 
Milner,  seem  to  be  written  on  this  pian.  ^ 

BIRD  (WiLUAM),  s^n  eminent  musician  and  Composer, 
was  one  of  the  children  of  the  chapel  in  the  reign  of  Ed^ 
Ws^rd  VI.  and,    as  asserted  by  Wood  in  the  Ashmolean 
MS.  was  bred  up  under  Tallis.     It  appears,  that  in  1375 
Tallis  and  Bird  were  both  gentlemen  and  also  organists  of 
the  royal  chapel ;  but  the  time  of  their  appointment  tp 
this  'latter  oi&ce  cannot  now  be  ascertained  with  any  exact- 
ness*    The  compositions  of  Bird  are  many  and  various ; 
tho^e  of  his.  younger  years  were  mostly  for  the  service  of 
the  church.     He  composed  a  work  entitled  '^  l^acrarum 
C^tlonumy    quinque  vocum,    printed   in   1589;    among, 
which  is  that  noble  composition  '^  Civitas  sancti  tui,^'  which 
for  many  years  past  has  been  sung  in  the  church  as  an 
anthem,  to  the  words  ''Bow  thine  ear,  O  Lord!'*     tie  was 
also  the  author  of  a  work  entitled  ''  Gradualia^  ae  Can- 
tiones  sacras,  quinis,  quaternis,  trinisque  vocibus  concin- 
natae,  lib.  pcimus.''     pf  this  there  are  two  editions,  the 
latter  published  in  16 IQ.     Although  it  appears  by  these 
works,    that  Bird   was    in  the  strictest   sense    a   church 
musician,  he  occasionally  gave  to  the  world  compositions 
of  a  secular  kind ;  and  he  seems  to  b^  the  first  among: 
English  musicians  that  ever  mad6  an  essay  in  the  compo- 
sition of  that  elegant  species  of  vocal  harmony,  the  ma* 
drigal ;  the  ''  La  Verginella*'  of  Ariosto^  which  he  set  in 
that  form  for  five  voices,  being  the  most  ancient  musical 
composition  of  the  kind  to  be  met  with  in  the  works  of 
English  authors.     Of  his  compositious  for  private  enter* 
tainment,  there  are  extant,  ''  Songs   of  sundry  natures, 
some  of  gravitie,  and  others  of  myrth,  fit  for  all  compianies 
and  voyces,  printed  in  1589;'  and  two  other  collections 
of  the  same  kind,  the  last  of  them  printed  in  1611.     But 
the  most  permanent  memorials  of  Bird's  excellences  are 
hia  mpt^ts  and  anthems;  to  which  may  be  added  , a  fine 
service  in  the  key.  of  D  with  the  mmor  third,  the  first 
composition  in  Dr.  Boycei's  Cathedral   Music,  vol.   III. 
and  that  welKknown  canon  of  his,  "  Non  nobis,  Domine." 
Besides  his  salaries  and  other  emoluments  of  his  profession, 

I  Wood»s  Ath.  vol.  II. 
U  2   . 


299  BIRD., 

it  is  to  be  supposed  tiiat  Bird  derived  sojnae  advantsges 
from  the  patent  granted  by  queen  Elizabeth  to  Taiiis  and 
him,  for  the  sole. printing  of  music  and  music-paper;  Dr. 
Ward  speaks  of  a  book  which  be  had  seen  with  the  letters 
T.  E.,  for  Thomas  East,  Est,  or  Este,  who  printed  music 
under  that  patent.  Tallis  dying  in  1 585,  the  patent,  by 
-the  terms  of  it,  survived  to  Bird,  who,  no  doubt  for  a  va- 
luable consideration,  permitted  East  to  exercise  the  rig^ 
of  printingvunder  the  protection  of  it ;  and  he  in  the  titl€|<- 
page  of  most  of  bis  publications  styles  himself  the  ^^-as^ 
sigiiee  of  William  Bird.'*  Bird  di^d  in  1623,  * 
.  BIRINGUCCIO  (Vanocci),  an  Italian  mathematician^ 
was  bom  at  Sienna  about  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
and  died  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth.  After  bavit^ 
served  in  tl^  wars  under  the  dukes  of  Parma  and  Ferrarjiy 
and  the  republic  of  Venice,  he  employed  himself  in  stu- 
dying the  art  of  fusing  and  casting  metal  for  cannon^  and 
imprioviJDg  the  qqality  of  gunpowder.  He  was  the  first  of 
.  bis  nation  who  wrote,  upon  these  subjects.  The  work  in 
which  be  laid  down  his .  experience  and  practice,  was  en- 
titled '<  Pirotecnia,  nella  quale  si  tratta  non  sole  della  di- 
^versita  delle  .miners,  'ma  anco  di  quanto  si .  ricerca  alia 
.pr^ktica  di  esse^  e  che  s'appartienne  alParte  della  fusione 
o  getto  de'  luet^Ui,^'  Venice,  1540,  4to,  often  reprinted 
and  translated.  • 

BIRINUS  (Sj.j  a  priest  of , Rome,  who  in  the  year  634 
obtained  leave  of  pope  Honorius  to  pleach  the  gospel  ^ 
the  idolaters  in-  Britain,  at  which,  the  pope  was  so  much 
pleased,  that  he  caused  him  to  be.  ordained  bishop.  This 
missionary  landing  in  the  kingdom  of  the  West  Saxons, 
with  .many  others  baptised  king  Cynegilsus,  who  began  ^ 
reign  in.  the  year  611,  and  filled  the  throne  thirty-one 
years.  St  Birinus  fixed  his  see  at  Dercis,  now  Dorches- 
ter, in  Oxfordshire,  in  the  windows  of  which  beautiful 
cburch  are  still  some  remains  of  painting  relative  to  tb/e 
history  of  his  mission.  He  built  and  consecrated  many 
churches,  and  had  great  success  in  converting  the  natives, 
until  bis  death,  about  the  year  650.  November  29  is  his 
day  in  !tiie  calendar.  ^  He  was  first  buried  at  Dorchester, 
but  bis  ijeimains  were  afterwards  translated  to  Winchester^' 

1  liiwkios's  Hist,  of  MJMtc— Barney's  Ditto. 

•  Biog.  Uni^erselle. 

9  Tanner.— 'Bvtler'8  lares  of  the  Saints.— Neve's  Fasti  Anfl.  p.  137,  ^3. 


B  I  R  K  E'K  HEAD.  393 

BIRKENHEAD  or  BERKENHEA©  (Siu  John),  a  pa^ 
liticai  author  in  the  s^^vente^nth  (5eiitury,  was  the  son  of 
Richard   Birkenhead,    of   Northwych^    in  the  ''county  of 
-Cheshire,  an  honest  saddler,  who,  if  some  authors  may.  de- 
serve credit,  kept  also  a  little  ale-house.     Our  author  was 
born  about  r6l5,  and  having  recefived  some  tinctttre:.of 
learning  in  the  common  grammar-schools,  came  to  03c^ 
ford,  and  was  entered  in  1632,  a  servitor  of  Oriel  college, 
under  the  tuition  of  the  learned  Dr.  Humphrey  Lloyd,  af- 
terwards bishop  of  Bangor.     Dr.  Lloyd  recommended  hioi 
to  Laud,   archbishop  of  Canterbury,  as  his*  amanuensis, 
and  in  that  capacity  he  discovered  such  talents,  that  the 
archbishop,  by  his  diploma,  created  him  A.  M.  in   1639, 
and  the  year  following,  by  letter  commendatory  from  the 
same  great  prelate,  he  was  chosen  probationary  fellow  of 
AlUsouls  college.     This  preferment  brought  him  to  reside 
constantly  in  Oxford,  and  on  king  Charles  L  making  that 
city  his  head-quarters  during  the  civil  war,  our  author  was 
employed  to  write  a  kind  of  journal  in  support  of  the  royal 
cause,  by  which  he  gained  great  reputation  ;  and  bis  ma- 
jesty recommended  him  to  be  chosen  reader  in  moral  phi- 
losophy, which  employment  he  enjoyed,  though  with  very 
small  profit,  till  1648,  when  he  was  expelled  by  the  par- 
liament visitors.     He  retired  afterwards  to  London,  where 
adhering  steadily  to  his  principles,  he  acquired,  among 
those  of  his  own  sentiments,  the  title  of  *^  The  Loyal 
Poet,^'  and  suffered,  from  such  as  had  then  the  power  in 
their  hands,  several  imprisonments,  which  served  only  to 
sharpen  his  wit,  without  abating  his  coun^e.     He  pub- 
lished, while  he  thus  lived  in  obscurity,  and,  as  Wood  says, 
by  his  wits,  some  very  tart  performances,  which  were  then 
very  highly  relished,  and  are  still  admired  by  the  curious. 
These  were,  like^fais  former  productions,  levelled  against 
the  republican  teaders,  and  were  written  with  the  same 
vindictive  poignancy  that  was  then  fashionable.     Upon  the 
restoration  of  king  Charles  H.  he  was  created  April  6, 
166 1,  on  the  king's  letters  sent  tor  that  purpose,  D.  C.  L. 
by  the  university  of  Oxford;  and  in  that  quality  was  one, 
of  the  eminent  civilians  consulted  by  the  convocation  on 
kbe  question  ^  Whether  bishops  ought  to  be  present  in 
capiul  cases*?*'  and  with  tiie  rest,  Feb.  2,  1661-2,  gave 
it  under  his  hand,  they  ought  and  might.     He  was,  about 
the  same  time,  elected  a  burgess,  to  serve  in  parliament 
for  Wilton,  in  the  county  of  Wilts,  and  continuing  bis 


994  BIRKENHEAD; 

services  to  bi^  master,  wasbyhikn  promoted,  oii  the  first 
Vapancy,  to  some  office  at  court,  which  he  quittedt  after* 
wards,  and  became  master  in  the  Faculty  office*  He  was 
knighted  November  14,  1662,  and  upon  sir  Richard  Fan^ 
sb&v^'s  going  with  a  public  diaracter  to  the  court  of  Ma-c 
drid,  sir  John  Birkenhead  succeeded  him  as  master  of  re* 
quests.  He  w^  also  elected  a  member  of  the  royal  so4 
ciety,  an  honour  at  that  time  conferred  on  none  who  were 
not  well  known  in  the  republic  of  letters,  as  men  capable 
of  promoting  tt^e  trtily  noble  designs  of  that  learned  bodyi: 
He  lived  afterwards  in  credit  and  esteem  with  men  of  wit 
and  learning,  and  received  various  favours  from  the  court, 
;.n  consideration  of  the  past,  and  to  instigate  him  to  othei^ 
sei'vices ;  which,  however,  drew  upon  him  some  very  se- 
vere attacks  from  those  who  opposed  the  court.  Anthony 
Wood  has  preserved  some  of  their  coarsest  imputations, 
fbr  what  reason  is  not  very  obvious,  as  Wood  is  in  general 
very  partial  to  the  loyalist  writers.  He  died  in  West* 
Hdinster,  December  4,  1679,  and  was  interred  at  St.  Mar- 
tin's in  the  Fields,  leaving' to  his  executors,  sir  Richard 
Mason,  and  sir.  Muddiford  Battiston,  a  large  and  curious 
oollection  of  pamphlets  on  all  subjects. 

Sir  John's  newspaper  which  he  wrote  at  Oxford,  was 
entitled  ^^  Mercurius  Aulicus,  communicating  the  intelli* 
gence  and  afFairs.of  the  court  to  the  rest  of  the  kingdom;** 
It  wa^  printed  weekly  in  one  sheet,  and  sometimes  more, 
in  4to ;  and  was  chiefly  calculated  to  raise  the  reputation 
of  the  Ring's  friends  and  commanders,  and  ridicule  those 
who  sided  with  the  parliament.  They  came  out  regularly 
from  the  beginning  of  1642,  to  the  latter  end  of  1645, 
and  afterwards,  occasionally.  When  Birkenhead  was 
otherwise  engaged.  Dr.  Peter  Heylyn,  supplied  his  place, 
but  was  not  thought  so  capable  of  that  species  of  writing, 
as  he  did  not  excel  in  popular  wit,  which  is  necessary  to 
render  such  kind  of  pieces  acceptable  to  the  pubKc.  The 
parliaihent  thought  fit  to  oppose  this  court  •journal  by  ano* 
ther  on  their  side  of  the  question,  under  the  title  of  ^'  Met* 
curius  Britannicus,"  written  by  Marchmont  Nedham,  to 
whom  the  royalists  gave  the  name  of  '^  fouUmouthed 
'  Nedham  ;"  who,  finding  himself  somewhat  unequal  to  tb^e 
Oxford  writer,  thought  fit  to  ascribe  the  '*  Mercurius  Auf 
licus"  to  several  persons,  that  his  deficiency  might  do  the 
less  prejudice  to  his  party.  Jacob  blunderingly  calls  the 
*^  Mercurius  Aulicus,"  a  poem.     Sir  John's  other  satirical 


B  I  R  K  EN  HEAD.  29S 

WQtkj^wet^i  1>  <<  The  As^emblj^mao/*  written  m  1647^ 
but  printed,  as  Wood  tells  us,  1662t3.  2.  *'  News  from 
Pembroke  and  Montgomery ;  or^  Oxford  Manchestened/' 
&c..  ,164».  3.  "  St.  Paul's  church-yard ;  libri  theologi'qi, 
pplitici,  bistorici,  nundinis  Paulinis  (una  cum  templo)  pror 
stant  v^nales,  &9."  printed  in  three  sheets,  1649,  4to* 
These  sheets  were  published  separately,  as  if.  they  bad 
been  pe^rts  of  one  general  catalogue.  An  account  of  them 
is  in  tbe  Cens.  Lit.  vol.  IV.  4.  ^^  The  four-legged  Quaker, 
a  ballsid,  I^Qi  tbe  tune  of  tbe  dog  and  elder's  maid,"  5.  ^^  A 
new  ballad  of  a  famous  German  prince,  without  date,''  &Ck 

.  Our  author  has  also  several  verses  and  translations  ex- 
tant, set  lo  music  by  Mr.  Henry  Law^s ;  as  particularly 
Anacrepn's  ode,  called  the  Lute,  translated  from  the 
Greek,  and  to  he  sung  by  a  bass  alone  ;  and  an  Anniver- 
sary on  tbe  nuptials  of  John  earl  of  Bridgwater,  22d  July, 
1662.  He  wrote,  likewise,  a  poem  on  his  staying  in  Lon- 
don after  the  Act  of  Banishment  for  cavaliers ;  and  another 
called  tbe  Jolt,  made  upon  Cromwell  the  protector's  being 
thrown  out^  of  his  coacb-biox  in  Hyde*Park.  He  published 
Mr.  IKobert  Waring's  <'  Effigies  Anioris,  sive  quid  sit 
Amor  efflagitanti  responsum,"  London,  1649,  12mo,  from 
the  origim?,  at  the  author's  desire,  who  was  willing  to  bd 
coqceiJed.  The  third  edition  was  published  after  the 
f^toration,.  by  William  Griffith,  of  Oxford,  with  an 
epistle  )>efore  it,  written  by  him  to  sir  John  Birkenhead  ; 
wherein  he  gives  the  character  of  that  gentleman,  as  well 
^  of  tbe  author.  This  was  the  same  piece  afterwards 
tran^ated  into  English  by  the  famous  Mr.  I^orris  of  Be- 
merton,  and  published  under  th^  title  Qf  '*  The  Picture  of 
Love  unveiled*'*  We  meet  also  with  several  copies  of 
Tc^es  written  by  this  gentleman,  and  prefixed  to  the  works 
of  the  most  eminent  wits^  and  greatest  poets  of  hi^time; 
but  satire  was  his  principal  excellence,  and  in  genuine 
powers  of  ridieule  be  had  no  superior,  at  a  time  when 
those  powers  were  called  forth,  and  well  rewarded  by  both 
parties. ' 

BIRKHEAD  (HBNav),  a  modem  Latin  poet,  was  born 

in  1617,  near  St«  Paul's  cathedral,  in  London,  and  after 

^^^having  been  educated  under  the  famous  Farnaby,  was  en* 

tered  a  commoner  at  Trinity  coll€^;e,  Oxford,  in  1632ft; 

}  Bk>g.  Brit— CibWs  Uvef .— AUi  Ox.  vol.  II.«»-Geiif tm  literariay  toL  IV. 
—Wood's  Aanals. 


we  B  I  R  K  tt  E  A  p. 

admitted  scholar  th^e.  May  28^  1635,  and  soon  after  wai 
seduced  to  become  a  member  of  the  college  of  Jesuits,  at 
St.  Omer's.  He  sood,  however»  returned  to  the  cliurch 
of  England)  and  by  the  patronage  of  archbishop  Laiidf 
was  elected  fellow  of  AJl  Souls,  in  16^8)  being  then  ba* 
cbelor  of  arts,  and  esteemed  a  good  philologist  He  pro«^ 
ceeded  in  that  faculty^  was  made  senior  of  the  act  cele- 
brated in  1641,  and  entered  on  the  law  faculty.  He  kept 
bis  fellowship  during  the  usurpation,  but  resigned  it  after 
the  restoration,  when  he  became  registrar  of  the  diocr  se 
of  Norwich.  This  too -he  resigned  in  1684,  and  resided^ 
first  in  the  Middle  Temple,  and  then  in  other  places,  in 
a  retired  condition  for  many  years.  The  time  of  bis  death 
is  not  mentioned  ;  but  in  the  title  of  Trapp's  ^^  Lectures 
on  Poetry,''  Henry  Birkhead,  LL.D.  some  time  fellow  of 
All  Souls  college,  is  styled  ^^  Founder  of  the  poetical  lec^ 
tures,*'  the  date  of  which  foundation  is  1707.  He  wrote  r 
i,.  '^  Poemata  in  Elegiaca,  lambica,  Polymetra,  &c.  mem* 
branatim  quadripartita,"  1656,  8vo.  2*  ^'  Otium  Lite- 
rarium,  sive  miscellanea  qusedam  Poemata,"  1656,  8vo. 
He  also  published  in  4to,  with  a  preface,  some  of  the  phi- 
lological works  of  bis  intimate  friend  Henry  Jacob,  who 
bad  the  honour  of  teaching  Seldeti  the  Hebtew  language  i 
and.  he  wrote  several  Latin  elegies  on  the  loyalists  vdia 
suffered  in  the  cause  of  Charles  I.  which  are  scattered  in 
various  printed  books,  and  many  of  them  subscribed  H.  G} 
BI8CIONI  (Anthony  Maria),  a  celebrated  Italian 
scholar  of  the  last  century,  was  born  at  Florence,  Aug.  14, 
1674.  After  finishing  his  studies,  ^he  taught  a  school, 
which  produced  Bottari,  the  prelate,  and  some  other 
eminent  men.  The  grand  duke  Cosmo  III.  having  given 
him  some  benefices,  be  took  priest's  orders,  and  the  de» 
gree  of  doctor  in  the  university  of  Florence,  and  spent  se«- 
yeral  years  in  preaching,  particularly  in  the  cathedral 
church  of  St  Laurence.  The  cliApter,  in  17 IS,  appointed 
him  keeper  of  the  Mediceo-^Laurentian  library,  and  i6  thtti 
office  be  was  re-elected  in  17^^,  1729,  and  1739,  but  he 
could  not,  with  all  his  endeavours,  prevail  on  l^e  chapter  to 
grant  it  him  for  life.  While  here,  however,  be  began  a 
new  course  of  studies, .  learned  Greek,  Hebrew^  and  other 
oriental  languages,  and  applied  himself  particiitarly  to  the 
Tuscan  :  here  also  he  found  a  very  useful  patron  in  Nicolas 

»  Ath.  Ox.  vol.  IL^Biog.  Brit,  yol  VH.  p.  174, 


B  r  a  c  I  o  N  I.  i9T 

iy  a  xery  opulent  Florentine  noblemaii,  who  re^ 
eeived  him  into  bis  house,  where  he  remained  eleven  years, 
and  made  him  his  children's  tutor^  his  librarian^  secretary^ 
archivist,  &c.  and  amply  rewarded  him  for  his  services  in 
all  these  departments.  He  wa9  also  appointed  apostolic 
prothonotary,  synodal  examiner  at  Florence  and  Fiesola, 
and  reviser  of  cases  of  conscience  in  these  dioceses.  At 
length,  in  1741,  the  grand  dulce  of  his  own  accord  made 
him  royal  librarian  of  the  Laurentian  library,  and  in  1745, 
gave  him  a  canonry  of  ^t.  Laurence,  In  his  place  as 
librarian,  he  was  of  essential  service  to  men  of  letters,  and 
was  engaged  in  many  literary  undertakings  which  were 
interrupted -^by  his  death.  May  4,  1754,  He  left  a  very 
capital  collection  of  rare  editions  and  manuscripts,  which 
the  grand  duhe  purchased  and  divided  between  the  Lau«' 
rentian  and  Magliabechian  libraries.  Biscioni  during  his 
life-time  was  a  man  of  great  reputation,  and  many  writers 
have  spoken  highly  in  bis  praise.  He  published  very  litde 
that  could  be  called  original,  his  writings  consisting  prin- 
cipally  of  the  notes,  commentaries,  prefaces,  letters,  and 
dissertations,,  with  which  he  enriched  the  works  of  others  i 
such  a^  the  preface  and  notes  to  his  edition  of  the  **  Prose 
di  Dante  Alighieri  e  di  Gio.  Boccaccio,'*'  Florence',  1713 
•-^l'72S|  4tn ;  his  notes  on  ^*  Menzini's  Satires  ;**  his  pre* 
face  and  notes  on  the  **  Riposo''  of  Raphael  Borghini,^ 
Florence,  1730,  4to,  &c.  &c.  The  only  work  he  published* 
not  of  this  description,  was  a  vindication  of  the  first  edition 
of  the  ^^  Cantt  Carnascialeschi,''  against  a  reprint^of  that 
work  by  theabb^  Bracci,  entitled  '^  Parere  sopra  la  secon- 
da  edizione  de'  Canti  Carnascialeschi  e  in  difesa  della 
prima  edizione,'*  &c.  Florence,  1750,  8vo.  He  had  begun 
the  catalogue  of  the  Mediceo-Laurentian  library,  of  which 
the  first  volume,  containing  the  oriental  manuscripts,  was* 
magnificentiy  printed  at  Florence,  1752,  ibiio,  and  the  rest 
continued  by  the  canon  Giulanelli,  many  years  after,  who 
added  the  Greek  MS8.  Biscioni  left  many  notes,  critical 
remarks,  &c.  on  books,  a  history  of  the  Panciatichi  family* 
and  of  his  own  family,  and  soipne  satires  on  those  who  had 
so  long,  prevented  him  from  being  perpetual  keeper  of  the 
Laurentian  library,  an  injury  he  seems  never  to  have  for« 
gotten.^ 

1  Biof.  Ubircitclk.— MfnacheUL 


298  B  I  SIC  O  B. 

». 

Bl8CO!i  (RiCflAiiD),  an  Englisb  dMntf  ^proMAyAit 
flfofi  or  gmndsoit  of  tb^  rev.  John  Biscoe  of  New  Inn  haU, 
Oxford,  «  noncenfonnis^  was  himself  educated  at  a  dis* 
sentHig  academy  kept  by  I>r. 'Benion .  at  ShrewsbiHy,  and 
was  ordained  a  dissenting  mittister,  Dec«  19,  1716.  In 
l72Sf  hd  confofowd  and  received  deacon's  and  priest' si 
orders  in  tbe  cbavoh  of  England,  and  in  1727  was  presented 
to  tbe  living  of  Sd.  Martin  Outwieb,  in  the  city  of  London, 
wbicb  ke  retaitred  until  hisji  d^atb,  July  174^.  He  heid" 
ako  a  prebend  6f  St  Paul'sy  and  was  one  of  bis  majesty'^ 
dhapljains  in  ordinary.  He  is.  now  chiefly  known  for  a^ 
learned  aodelaboiiaBbe  work,  entitled  ^<  Tbe  History  6f  the 
Acts  of  the  Holy  Apostles  confirmed  from  ether  anthors ; 
and  considered  as  fall  evidence  of  the  truth  of  CbrtstiatrHty, 
with  a  prefatory  discidurse  upon  the  nature  of  that  evi- 
dence;"' being  tbe  substance » of  his  sermons  preached  at 
Boyle's  lecture^  in  1736,  1737,  1738,  and  published  in 
U  vols.  1742,  8tq«  Dr.  Doddridge  frequently  refers  to  it^ 
as  a  work  of  great  utility^  and  as  shewing  ^^  in  the  most  con- 
vincing manner^  bow  incontestably  tbe  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles demonstrates  the  truth  of  Christianity."  ^ 

BISHOP  (SitieiUEL),  late  head^master  of  Merchant 
Taylors'  school  and  a  poet  of  considerable  merit,  was 
descended  froin  a  respectable  family,  originally  of  Wor- 
cestershire, and  was  born  in  St.  John's  street,  London,  his 
fbtber's  residence,  Sept.  3 1,  O.  S.  173].  He  was  tender 
and  delicate  in  his  constita%io4i,  yet  gave  early  indications 
of  uncommon  capacity  'and  application,  as  appears  from 
his  having  been  called,  when  only  nine  years  old,  to  con- 
strue the  Greek  Testament  for  a  lad  of  fourteen,  the  son 
of  an  opulent  neighbour.  With  t^his  promising  stock  of 
knowledge,  he  was  sent  to  Merchant  Taylors'  school,  June 
1743,  when  between  eleven  and  twelve  years  of  age,  and 
soon  evinced  a  superiority  over  his  fellows  which  attracted 
the  notice  and  approbation  of  his  masters.  He  read  with 
avidity,  and  composed  with  success.  His  first  essays,  how- 
ever imperfisct,  ^ewed  great  natural  abilities,  and  an  ori- 
^nal  vein  of  wit.  History  and  poetry  first  divided  his  at- 
tention, but  the  last  predominated.  He  not  only  acquired 
that  knowledge  of  the  Latin  and.  Greek  classics,  \lhich  is 
usually  obtained  in*  a  public  seminary,  but  also  became 

1  Wood's  Ath.  vol.  lI.--Bi«tetUBt  Diswoten'  Ma^naunt,  vol.  VI.  p.  306. 


firi  ^  H  O  p.  29sr 

ilttiiiiately  tequarnted  with  the  best  audiore  ih  our  own 
laDguage  :  and  some  of  his  writings  prove  that  he  had 
pernsed  Milton,  Dryden,  Pope,  and  Swift,  at  an  early  age, 
with  macb  diserimination  and  critical  judgment.  In  Jime 
1750,  be  was  elected  to  St  John's  college,  Oxford,  and 
admitted  a  scholar  of  that  society,  on  the  25th  of  the  same 
ihonth.  During  his  residence  here,  he  not  only  coi^rected 
bis  taste  by  reading  with  judgment,  but  also  improved  hi» 
powers  by  habitual  practice  in  composition.  Besides  se«^ 
veral  poetical  pieces,  with  which  he  supplied  hir  friends, 
be  wrote  a  great  number  of  college  exercises,  hymns,  para- 
pbrases  of  scripture,  translations  from  the  ancients,  and 
imitations  of  the  moderns. 

In  June  1753,  he  was  admitted  felbw  of  St  John's,  and 
in  April  1754,  he  took  the  degree  of  B.  A.  and  about  the 
9ame  time  was  ordained  to  holy  orders.  He  was  then  set-^ 
tied  in  the  curacy  of  Headley  in  Surrey,  whither  he  had 
removed  on  account  of  a  declining  state  of  health,. but 
change  of  air  soon  restored  him,  and  he  continued  to  di-* 
vide  his  time  between  Headley  and  the  university,  till  1758, 
when  he  took  the  degree  of  M.  A.  He  then  quitted/Head«^^ 
ley,  and  came  to  reside  entirely  in  London,  on  being 
elected  under-master  of  Merchant  Taylors'  school,  July 
2<^«  He  was  appointed  also  curate  of  St.  Mary  Abcfaurch;: 
and  some  time  afterwards  lecturer  of  St  Christopher^^-. 
Stocka,  a  choeeh  since  taken  down  for  the  enlargement  of: 
the  Bank.  In  1762,  he  published  ^<  An  Ode  to  the  earl 
of  Lincoln  on  the  duke  of  Newcastle's  Retirement,''  without 
his  name.  In  1763  and  1764,  he  wrote  several  essays  and 
poems,  printed  in  the  Public  Ledger,  and  soon  after  a: 
volume  of  Latin  poems^  P^^y  translated,  and  partly  ori- 
ginal, under  the  title  of  '*  Ferise  poeticse."  This  was  pub-^' 
lisbed  by  subscription,  beyond  which  the  sale  was  not  con« 
siderable.  He  also  appears  to  have  tried  his  talents  for 
dramatic  composition,  but  not  meeting  with  sufficient  en- 
couragement, he  very  wisely  relinquished  a  pursuit  that 
could  have  added  little  dignity  to  the  character  of  a  clergy^ 
man  and  a  public  teacher.  From  this  period  he  devoted 
bis  talents  to  the  amusementof  a  few  friends,  and  the  labo« 
rions  duties  of  his  profession,  which  he  continned  te  dis- 
charge with  the  utmost  fidelity,  during  the  prime  of  his- 
life. 

In  January  1783,  he  was  elected  head-knaster  of  Mer- 
chant Taylors,  the  duties  of  whi^ch  important  station  en- 


300.  B  I  S  H  O  1^. 

tirely  occupied  bU  atteDtion,  and  in  1789,  the  company  ef 
Mercbs^nt  Taylors  presented  him  to  the  living  of  St.  Martin 
Outwicb,  .as  a  reward  for  his  long  and  faitbful  services. 
Pn  Warren^  bi$bop  of  Bangor,  a  few  years  before  had  ob.« 
tained  tor  him,  troin  the  earl  of  Ayiesford,  tbe  rectory  of 
Ditton  ip  Kent  But  he  did  not  long  enjoy  these  prefer* 
ments ;  bodily  infirmities  grew  fast  upon  him,  and  repeated 
fits  of  tbe  gout  underuiiaed  his  constitution.  In  the  :be> 
ginning  of  1795,  be  was  alarmed  by  an  oppression  on  bis 
breath,  which  proved  to  be  occasioned .  by  water  on  tiie 
(;hest,  and  terminated  in  his  death,  Nov.  17,  1795^  -He 
left  a  widow,  whose  virtues  he  has  aifectionately  com.- 
memorated  in  many,  of  bis  poems,  and  one  daughter.  The 
year  foilowiiig  his  death,  his  '^  Poetical  Worlds''  were  pubs^ 
limbed  by  subscription,  in  2  vols.  4tOj  with  Mejmoirs  of  the 
Life  Qf  the  Author,  by  the  rev.  Thomas  Clai*e,  M.:A;  noisr 
vicar  of  St.  Bride's,  Fleet-street,  from  which  the  present 
sketch  is  taken  ;  and  in  1798,  the  same  editor  pubtisfaeda. 
volume  of  Mr.  Bishop's  ^^  Sermons,  chiefly  upon  practical 
subject^;:^'  The  poems  entitle  Mr.  Bishop  to  a.very  dis.^ 
tinguished  rank  among  minor  poets,  and  among  those  who 
write  with  ease  and  elegance  on  familiar  subjects ;- but^ife 
doubt  whether  his  talents  could  have  reached  tbe  higher 
species  of  the  art.  He  is  sometimes  nervoas,  sometinntft 
.  pathetic,  but  never  sublime ;  yet  his  vein  of  bumour  was 
well  calculated  for  tbe  familiar  verses,  epigrams,  &c.)«vhieli 
are  so  plentiful  in  these  volumes..  His  style  is  always  pure^ 
and  his  imagination  uncommonly  fertile  in  those  lesser 
poems  which  require  a  variety  of  the  grave,  gay,  the  witty 
and  thjS  instructive*^'  *       •     ' 

BISHOP  (William),  vicar  apostolical  in  Enghnd^  and 
tbe  first  popish  bishop  that  was  sent  thither  after  the  refor- 
mation, was  born  in  1553,  at  Brayles  in  Warwickshire« 
He  stuciieci  in  the  university  of  Oxford;  Wood  thinki^ 
eithei*  in  Gloucester-hall  (now  Worcester  college),  or  in 
Lincoln  college,  the  heads  of  both  which  were  secret  &» 
vourei:s  of  popery  :  from  Oxford' he  went  to  Rbeims  and 
Rome,  and  having  been  sent  back  to  Eiigland^-  as  amis* 
sionary,  he  was  arrested  at  Dover,  and  confined  in  prison 
in  London  until  the  end  of  the  year  1584.  Being  then  re^ 
Jeased,  he  went  to  PariS|  took  bis  degree  of  ticentiate,  and 

'  Life  prefixed  to  his  Poems,  1796,  4to.    Tbere  has  junce  appeared  an  Sro 
edition^  or  selection,  i 


'6  I  S  H  0  1^.  301 

tsme  agsdn  to  England  in  1591.  In  two  years  lie  ^turned 
to  Paris,  completed  his.  degree  of  doctor,  and  soon  after 
his  arrival  in  England,  a  dispute  arising  among  the  popish 
dergy  here,  4ie  was  sent  to  Rome  with  another  missionary 
to  appeal  to  the  pope.  In  1612  we  find  him  again  in  Eng- 
iaiid,  and  in' confinement,  on  account  of  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance, to  which,  however,  he  was  not  so  averse  as  many 
of  his  brethren.  He  bad,  in  fact,  written  against  the  bull 
of  pope  Pius  V.  to  prove  that  the  catholics  were  bound  to 
be  faithful  to  their  sovereigns,  and  in  1602  he  had  signed 
a  declaration  of  the  same  principle,  without  any  equivoca- 
cation  or  mental  reservation,  which  gave  great  offence  to 
the  Jesuits.  Out  of  respect,  however,  to  the  authority  of 
the  pope,  who  had  proscribed  that  oath,  he  refuised  to  take 
it,  and  was  committed  to  prison.  On  his  release  he  went 
to  Paris,  and  wrote  some  tracts  against  those  eminent  pro- 
testant  divines,  Perkins  and  Abbot.  Since  the  death  of 
Watson,  bishop  of  Lincoln,  the  last  of  the  popish  bishops 
who  outlived  the  reformation,  it  had  often  been  intended 
to  .re*establish  the  episcopal  government  in  England ;  and. 
tbe  marriage  of  the  prince  Charles,  afterwards  Charles  I. 
witb  the  Infanta  of  Spain,  seemed  to  offer  a  fair  opportu- 
nity for  carrying  this  scheme  into  execution,  the  hopes  of 
the  catholics  being  considerably  raised  by  that  match.  Ac- 
cordingly, Dr.  Bishop  was  consecrated  at  Paris,  in  1623, 
by  the  title  of  bishop  of  Chalcedon,  and  being  sent  to  Eng- 
land, began  his  career  by  forming  a  chapter,  appointing 
gtaad  vicars,  archdeacons,  and  rural  deans,  &c.  but  did 
not  enjoy  his  promotion  long,  as  he  died  April  16,  1624. 
His  party  speak  liberally  of  his  zeal,  virtues,  and  learning, 
and  he  undoubtedly  was  the  more  useful  to  their  cause  in 
England,  as  he  contrived  to  exercise  his  functions  with- 
out giving  much  offence  to  government.  Dodd  and  Wood 
lurre  given  a  list  of  his  controversial  writings,  which  are 
now  in  little  request,  but  it  must  not  be  forgot  that  he  was 
the  publisher  of  Pits's  very  useful  work,  "  De  illustribus 
Anglie^  Scriptoribus,'*  1623,  to  which  he  wrote  a  very 
learned  preface. ' 

BISSAT,  BI8SET,  or  BISSART  (Patrick),  professor 
^  canon  law  in  the  university  of  Bononia  in  Italy,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  was  descended  from  the  earls  of  Fife 

-  I  Wood's  Atb.  >rol.  I.-*Dodd's  Ch.  HUt  vol.  11.— FuUert  Worthie?.— Biog. 

Vnivenelle. 


302  B  I  is  S  A  T. 

in  Scotland,  and  born  in  that  county  in  ttie  reigii  of  Jaoiei 
V.  He  was  educated  at  St  Andrew's,  from  whence  he  re- 
moved to  Paris,  and,  having  spent  some  time  in  Umt  uni« 
versity,  proceeded  to  Bononia,  where  be  commented  doc* 
tor  of  laws,  and  was  afterwards  appointed  professor  of  ca- 
non law.  He  continued  in  that  office  several  vears. with 
great  reputation,  and  died  in  1568*  He  is  said  to  have 
been  not  only  a  learned  civilian,  but  an  excellent  poet, 
orator,  and  philosopher.  He  wrote  "  P.  Bissarti  opera' 
omnia :  viz.  poemata,  oratioues,  lectiones  ferialesj  &c.^' 
Venice,  1565,  4to.  * 

BISSE  (Thomas),  an  English  divine,  was  educated  at 
Corpus  Christi  collegej  Oxford,  where  he  proceeded  M.A; 
in  1698,  B.  D.  in  1708,  and  D.D.  in  1712.  In  1715  he 
was, chosen  preacher  at  the  Rolls,  and  in  )7!6,  on  thede* 
privation  of  John  Harvey,  A.  M.  a  nonjuror,  he  was  pre^^ 
sented  to  the  chancellorship  of  Hereford,  by  his  brother 
Dr.  Philip  Bisse,  bishop  of  that  diocese.  He  was  also  a 
prebendary  of  Hereford,  and  rector  of  Crudley  and  Wes- 
ton. He  died  April  22,  1731.  He  was  a  frequent  and 
eloquent  preacher,  and  published  several  of  his  occasional 
sermons.  Thoseof  most  permanent  reputatipn  are,  1.  "The 
Beauty  of  Holiness  in  the  Common  Prayer,  as  set  forth  in 
four  Sermons  preached  at  the  Rolls  chapel,"  1716,  and 
often  reprinted.  2.  "  Decency  and  order  in  public  wor- 
ship, three  Sermons,"  1723.  3.  **  A  course  of  Seembns 
on  the  Lord's  Prayer,'*  1740,  8vo.  Some  '*  Latin  Poems" 
were  published  by  him  in  1716,  which  we  have  not  seen.  ^ 

BISSET  (Charles),  an  ingenious  physician,  was  bom' 
at  Glenalbert,  near  Dunkeld  in  Perthshire,  Scotland,  in^ 
1717^     Afteracourse  of  medical  studies  at  Edinburgh,  he' 
was  appointed  in  1740,  second  surgeon  to  the  military  bos^ 
pital  in  Jamaica,  and  spent  several  years  in  the  Wes^  India 
islands,  and  in  admiral  Vernon's  3eet,  where  he-  acquired 
a  .knowledge  of  the  diseases  of  the  torrid  zone^     Having 
in  1745,  cufitracted  a  bad  stat^  of  health  at  New  Green- 
wich in  Jamaica,  he  was  under  the  necessity  of  restgning^ 
his  place  of  second  surgeon  to  the  hospital,  and  returning 
to  England.     In  May  1746,  he  purcha^  an  ensigncy  in 
the  forty-seqond  regiment,  commanded  by  lord  John  Mur<« 
ray  ;  and  by  this  transition,  his  attention  being  turned  irom 

1  Mackenzie's  Lives,  vol.  HI. — ^Tanti€|r,  who,  on  the  nuUiarily.of  DenifKteo 
makes  him  flourish  in  1401  >  but  see  Bisarrus  in  Tanner. 
«  Nichols's  Bowjer.    ■ 


.     B  I  S  S  E  T.  80S 

# 

medical  pursuits  to  military  a^t^ijr^,  fortification  became  His 
favourite  study.  After  a  fruitless  descent  o»  the  coast  of 
Brittany  in  France  in  September  1746,  und  pasMug  ibl  .wiu** 
t^at  Limerick  in  Ireland,  tliey  were,  in  th^  be^unjog  of 
the  next  campaign,  brought  into  action  at  Sandberg,  near 
Hulst  in  Dut«h  Fiaiulers|  where  one  D^Ueb  regiment  and 
two  £ngUsh  suffered  very  much.  Here,  haying  drawn  a 
sketch  of  the  enemy's  approaches,  with  the  environs,  and 
some  time  after,  a  pretty  correct  oi>e  o£.Bei^en-op-rZoomy 
with  the  permanent  lines,  die  environs,  and  the  enetmy^s 
first  parallel,  which  were  presented  by  lord  John  Murray 
to  his  rpyal  highness  the  lace  duke  of  Cumheriaud,  his 
highness  ordered.  Mr.  Bisset  to  attend  the  siege  of  that 
fortress,  and  give  due  attention  daily  to  the  progress  of 
the  attack,  and  to  the  defence,  in  order  to  take  accurate 
journals  of  them.  These  journals,  iUusitrated  with  pians^ 
were  delivered  daily^  to  lord  John  Murray,  who  forwarded 
them  to  the  duke,  by.  whose  appUcatiop  to  the  duke  of 
Montague,  then  master  of  the  ordnance,  Mr.  Bisset  re- 
ceived a  warrant  a#  engineer  extraordinary  in  the  brigade 
of  engineers  which  wi|s  established  to  ser^^.  in  the  Low 
Countries  during  the  war;  and  be  was  also  promoted  to  a 
lieutenancy  io  the  army.  The  brigfule  of  engineers  being 
renformed  at  the  end  of  the  war,  and  he  being  at  the  same 
time  put  upon  the  balf^pay  list  as  lieutenant,  be  continued 
to  employ  great  p^rt  of  his  time  in  the  study,  of  fortifica^ 
tion  :  and  in  1751,  after  visiting  France,  published  bis 
wmrk  ^'  On  the  Theory  and  Construction  of  Fortifications,** 
8vo,  and  some  time  after,  being  unemployed,  he  resumed 
the  medical  profession  to  which  he  bad  been  loriginaljy 
destined,  and  retired  to  the  village  of  Skeiton,  in  Cieve- 
land,  Yorkshire,  where,  or  in  the  vicinity,  be  ever  after 
contin^ied. 

In  1755,  when  a  French  war  was  iof^pending,  he  pub* 
lished  a  y  Treatise  on  the  Scurvy,  with  remarks  on  the  cuve 
of  scorbutic  ulcers,"  8vo,  and  in  1762,  an  ''  Essay  on  the 
Medical  Constitution  of  Great  Britain."  .  Jn  1765  the  .uni<* 
versity  of  St  Andrew?s  conferred  upon  him  the  degree  of 
M.  D.  in  1766,  he  published  a  volume  of  ^^  Medical  Es<* 
says  and  Observations,"  Newcastle,  3vo>  cojiuaining  va* 
rious  papers  on  the  climate  and  diseases  of  the  Wast  In«* 
dies.  A  few  years  before  his  death,  he  deposited  in  the 
library  of  the  infirmary  at  Leeds,  a  manuscript  volume  of 
700  pages  of  medical  observations ;  and  presented  a  trear 


304  B  I  S  S  E  T. 

tise  on  forttfication  to  his  royal  highness  the  prince  of 
Wales*  He  published  also  a  small  tract  on  the  naval  art 
of  war,  which,  with  sonie  political  papers  and  MSS.  in  the 
possession  of  his  widow,  form  the  whole  of  his  works  pub- 
lished and  unpublished.  He  died  at  Knayton,  near  Thirsk, 
in  May  1791,  in  the  seventy-fifth  year  of  his  age.  * 

BITAUBE'  (Paul  Jeremiah),  a  French  poet  and  miscel- 
laneous writer,  was  bom  at  Konigsberg,  Nov.  24,  1732,  of 
a  family  of  .French  refugees,  of  the  protestant  religion. 
After  completing  his  education,  he  became  a  clergyman  of 
that  communion,  and  appears  to  have  formed  his  taste  for 
oratory  and  poetry  from  a  frequent  perusal  of  the  Bible^ 
the  style  of  the  hisdorical  part  of  which  he  much  admired. 
He  was  a  no  less  warm  admirer  of  Homer.  Although  a 
Prussian  by  birth,  he  was  a  Frenchman  at  heart,  and  having 
accustomed  himself  to  the  language  of  his  family,  he  felt  a 
strong  desire  to  reside  in  what  he  considered  as  properly 
his  native  country,  conceiving  at  the  same  time  that  the 
best  way  to  procure  his  naturalization  would  be  through 
the  medium  of  literary  merit.  As  early  as  1762,  he  pub- 
lished at  Berlin  a  translation  of  the  Iliad,  which  he  called  a 
free  translation,  and  was  in  fact  an  abridgment ;  and  this 
served  to  introduce  him  to  D*  Alembert,  who  recommended 
faim  so  strongly  to  the  king,  Frederick  II.  that  he  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  Berlin  academy,^  received  a  pension,  aiid 
afterwards  visited  France  in  order  to  complete  his  transla- 
tion of  Homer.  A  first  edition  had  been  printed  in  1764, 
2  vols.  8vo,  but  the  mos|:  complete  did  not  appear  until 
I7S0,  and  was  followed  by  the  Odyssey  in  1785.  Such 
was  the  reputation  of  both  among  hts  countrymen,  that 
the  academy  of  inscriptions  admitted  bis  iiame  on  their  list 
of  foreign  members.  Modern  French  critics,'  however, 
have  distinguished  more  correctly  between  the* beauties 
and  defects  of  this  translation.  They  allow  him  to  have 
been  more  successful  in  his  ^^  Joseph,^'  a  poem  published 
first  in  1767,  and  with  additions  in  1786,. and  now  become 
*  almost  a  classic  in  France.  It  Was  translated  into  English 
in  1783,  2  vols.  12mo,  but  is  certainly  not  likely  to  become 
a  classic  in  this  country,  or  where  a  taste  prevails  for  sim- 
pKcity  and  elegance.  His  *^  Joseph^^  was  followed  by  '<  Les 
Bataves,''  a  poem  of  which  some  detached  parts  had  ap- 
peared in  1773,  under  the  title  of  **  Guillaume  de  Nassau,** 


A  Gent.  M»f .  to).  UHI.  pp.  5$8,  9€5. 


B  I  T  A  U  B  .£'•  9Gf 

Amsterdam.    This  was  reprinted  in  177 5|.  and  again  ia 
1796.     During:  the  war  in  1793.  as  he  attached  himself  to 
the  French  interest,  be  was  struck  ofF  the  list  of  the  aca-^ 
demy  of  Berlin,  and  bis  pension  withdrawn;  but  on  the 
peace  of  Bale, .  his  honours  and  his  pension  were  restored. 
if  his  sovereign  punished  him  thus  for  acting  the  French- 
man, he  was  not  more  fortunate  with  his  new  friends,  who 
imprisoned  him   because  he  was   a  Prussian.      On  the 
establishment  of  the  institute,  however,  Bitaub6  was  chosen 
of  the  cla$s  of  literature  and  the  fine  arts ;  but  gave  a  very, 
bad  specimen  of  his  taste  in  translating  the  ^^  Herman  i^d 
Dorothea''  of  Goethe,   and  comparing  that  author  with^ 
Homer,  whose  works,  from  this  opinion,  we  should  sup- 
pose he  had  studied  to  very  little  purpose.     Some  time 
before  bis  death,  which  happened  Nov.  22,  1808,  he  was 
admitted  a  member  of  the  legion  of  honour.   .  His  ;6ther 
works  were  :  1.  **  £xamen  de.la  Confession  de  Foi  du  Vi-t 
caire  Savoyard,"   1763,  a  very  liberal  expostulation  with 
Rousseau  on  account  of  his  scepticism.     2.  ^'  De  Tinflu- 
ence  des  Belles-lettres  sur  la  Philosophie,'*  Berlin,  J767,  • 
8vo;  and  3.  "  Eloge  de  CoriieilW  1769,  gvo  :  none. of 
which  are  in  the  collection  of  his  works  published  at  Paria 
in  1804,  9  vols.  8vo.  '  Bitaub6  cannot  be  ranked  among 
writers  eminent  for  genius,  nor  is  his  taste,  even  in  the 
opinion  of  his  countrymen,  of  the  purest  standard^  but  his 
works  procured  him  a  considerable  name,  and  many  of 
the  papers  he  wrote  in  the  memoirs  of  the  Paris  academy 
discovej:  extensive  reading  and  critical  .talents.     His  pri*  : 
vate  character  appqars .  to  have  been  irreproachable,  ai^ ; 
his  amiable  manners  and  temper  procured  bum  many  friends  . 
diiring  the  revolutionary  successions.  ^ 

BITO,  a  Greek  mathematician,   whose  country  is  un-  > 
known,  wrqt^  a  treatise  on  wariike  machines,  which  he 
dedicated  to  Attains^  king  of  Pergamus,  about  the  year  : 
25J9  B.C,  .  It  is  printed  in  Gr.  and  Lat  in  the  "  Mather  ; 
naatici  Veteres,"  Paris,  1693,  foL*  i 

BLACK  (Joseph),  one  of  the  mo§t  eminent  chemical 
philosophers  of  the  last  century,  was  born  in  France,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Garonne,  in  1728. .  His  father,  Mr.  John  , 
Black,  was  a  native  of  Belfast,  in  Ireland,  but  of  a  Scotch 
family,  which  had  been  some  time  settled  there.  Mr^ 
3l^ck  resided  most  commonly  at  Bourdeaux,   where  b^ 

I  Biog.  UnireiMlle.  f  VgHtiti  de  Sckn^  Math.— Fabr.  Bibl.  Gni$, 

Vot.  V.  X 


306  h  L.  A  C  A, 

carried  on  the  wine  trade.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Mr. 
Robert  Gordon  of  the  family  of  Halbead,  in  Aberdeenshire, 
who  was  also  engaged  in  the  same  trade  at  Bourdeaux. 
Mr.  Black  was  a  gentleman  of  the  most  amiable  mtoners, 
candid  and  liberal  in  his  sentiments,  and  of  no  common 
information.  He  enjoyed  the  particular  intimacy  and 
friendship  of  the  celebrated  president  Montesquieu,  wba 
most  likely  acquired  his  knowledge  of  the  constitution  of 
Britain,  for  which  he  was  known  to  have  a  strong  partiality, 
firom  the  informaJtion  communicated  by  Mr.  Black.  Long 
before  Mr.  Black  retired  from  business,  his  son  Joseph 
was  sent  to  Belfast,  that  he  might  have  the  education  of  a 
British  subject.  He  was  then  twelve  years  of  age,  and  six 
years  after,  in  the  year  1746,  he  was  sent  to  continue  his 
education  in  the  university  of  Glasgow.  Being  required 
by  his  father  to  make  choice  of  a  profession,  be  preferred 
that  of  medicine,  as  most  suited  to  the  general  bent  of 
his  studies. 

It  was  fortunately  at  this  time  that  Dr.  CuUen  had  just 
entered  upon  his  great  career,  was  become  conscious  of 
.  his  strength,  and  saw  the  great  unoccupied  field  of  philo- 
sophical chemistry  open  before  him.  He  quickly  suc- 
ceeded in  taking* chemistry  out  of  the  hands  of  mere  artists, 
and  exhibited  it  as  a  liberal  science.  His  pupils  became 
zealous  chemists,  as  well  as  refined  physiologists.  Young 
Black  was  particularly  delighted  with  the  science,  and  his 
great  bias  to  the  study  was  soon  perceived  by  Dr.  CuUen, 
who  delighted  to  encourage  and  assist  the  efforts  of  his 
students.  He  soon  attached  Mr.  Black  to  himself  so 
closely,  that  the  latter  was  considered  as  his  assistant  in 
all  his  operations,  and  his  experiments  were  frequently 
referred  to  as  good  authority.  Our  young  philosopher 
bad  laid  down  a  very  comprehensive  plan  of  study,  as  ap« 
pears  from  his  note-books,  which  are  still  preserved.  In 
these  be  wrote  down  every  thing  that  occurred  to  him,  and 
they  exhibit  the  first  germs  and  progress  of  his  ideas,  till 
the  completion  of  those  great  discoveries  which  produced 
so  complete  a  revolution  in  chemical  science. 

In  1750,  he  went  to  Edinburgh  to  finish  his  medical 
studies,  and  while  in  that  city  be  lived  with  his  cousin* 
german,  Mr.  Russel,  professor  of  natural  philosophy  in 
that' university.  At  this  time  the  medical  professors  en- 
tertained different  opinions  concerning  the  action  of  lithon- 
trlptic  medicine,  particularly  lime- water,  and  the  students 


BLACK.  807 


i&- usual  entered  eagerly  into  the  controfersjr* '  It 
to  have  been  this  circumstance  that  led  Mr.  Black  to  ir  h 
vestigate  the  cause  of  causticity,  a  property  in  which. all 
the  lithoDtriptics  then  in  vogue  agreed.  At  first  he  sus^ 
pected  that  linae,  during  the  burning  of  k,  tniCibed  aonidi 
thing  from  the  fire,  which  it  afterwards  communicates  to 
alkalies:  this  he  attempted  to  separate  and  collect^  but 
obtained  nothing.  This  led  him  to  the  real  cause,  whldh 
he  detected  about  the  year  1752,  and  published'  apoh 
after,  in  fats  inaugural  dissertation  on  magnesia*.  Lime«< 
stone  her  found  a  compound  of  lime  and  fixed  air.  Heat 
separates  the  air  and  leaves  the  lime.  The  common  alkmt 
lies  of  commerce,  are  compounds  of  the  pure  alkatind 
substance  and  fixed  air.  Lime  abstracts  the  fixed  air  frenn 
these  bodies ;  hence  their  causticity.  This  iaq»ortaat  disf 
covery  was  detailed  at  full  length  in  the  abovie  disBertaiion 
on  magnesia  and  quick- lime,  published  1755. 

At  this  time  Dr.  CuUen  was. removed  to  Edinburgh,  anxl 
there  being  a  vacancy  in  the  chemical  diair  at  Glasgow^ 
it  was  immediately  agreed  that  it  could  not  be  hestoweA. 
with  gr^iUier  propriety  than  upon  the  author  of  so  im«- 
portant  a  discovery.  Accordingly,  Dr.  Black  was  s^p- 
pointed  professor  of  anatomy,  ahd  lecturdr  on  chemistry  in 
the  university  of  Glasgow,  in  1756,  but  not '  oonceiviDg 
himself  so  well  qualified  for  filling  the  anatomidal.  chair, 
he  obtained  the  concunrence  of  the  university  i!o  eschaiige 
ta^s  with  the  professor  of  medicine.  While  in'Glasgow, 
therefore,  his  chief  business  was  delivering  lectures  on 
the  institutes  of  medicine.  His  reputation  as  a  professor 
increased  ev^  year,  and  he  became  a  fBivourite  practw 
tioner  in  that  large  and  active  city.  Indeed,  .the  siwe^- 
ness  of  his  temper  could  not  fail  to  make  him  a  wc^teome 
visitor  in  every  family.  His  countenance  was  no  le$s  en* 
gaging  than  his  manner  was  attractive.  The  ladies  re- 
garded themselves  as  honoured  by  his  attentions,  particu- 
larly as  they' were  exclusively  bestowed  oh  those  who 
evinced  a  superiority  of  mental  accomplishments:  or  pro- 
priety of  demeanour,  and  of  grace  and  elegance  of  manner. 
This  situation,  and  the  anxious  care  which  he  took  of  his 
patients,  may  in  some  measure  account  for  the  little  prQ»- 
gross  made  by  Dr.  Black  in  that  fine  careei*  of  exfieri- 
mental  investigation  which  be  had  so  auspiciously  opened. 
Yet  his  inactivity  must  be  lamented  as  highly  ]n|urion)[M  to 

X  2 


f  0$  B  L  A  C  K. 

science ;  it  displayed  an  indolence  or  carelesmess  of  ro^ 
putation  not  altogether  to  be  justified. 

But  perhaps  the  other  regions  of  chemistry  held  out 
temptations  too  captivating  not  to  engage  his  attention. 
It  was  between  the  years  1759  and  1763,  that  be  brought 
to  maturity  his  speculations  concerning  heat,  which  bad 
occupied  his  attention  at  intervals,  from  the  very  first  dawn 
of  his  philosophical  investigations.  His  discoveries  in  this 
department  of  science  were  by  far  the  most  important  of 
all  that  he  made^  and  perhaps  indeed  the  most  valuable 
which  appeared  during  thehusy  period  of.  the  eighteenth 
century.  To  enter  fully  into  the  nature  of  bis  investiga^* 
.ticms  would  be  improper  in  this,  place;  but  the  sum  of 
tbem .  all  was  usually  expressed  by  him  in  the  following 
propositions.  .      . 

1.  When  a  solid  body  is  converted  into  a  fluid,  there 
enters  into  it^  aiid  unites  with  it,  a  quantity  of  heat,  the 
presence  of  which  is  not  indicated  by  the  thermometer, 
SLnA  this  combination  is  the  cause  of  the  fluidity  which  the 
jbody  assumes.  On  the.  other  hand,  when  a  fluid  body  is 
<sonverted  into  a  solid,  a  quantity  of  heat  separates  from 
it,  the  presence,  of  which  was  not  formerly  indicated  by 
(the  thermometer.  And  this  separation  is  the  cause  of  the 
-•olid  form*  which  the  fluid  assumes. 

,  .2.  When  a  liquid  body  is  raised  to  the  boiling  tempe* 

'ratufe  by  the  continued  and  copious  applicatioa  of  beat^ 

4ts  particles  suddenly  attract  to  themselves  a  great  quanti^ 

iof  heat,  and  by  this  combination  their  mutual  relation  is  so 

^changed,  that  they.no  longer  attract  each  other,  but  are 

Converted  into  an  elastic  fluid-like  air.     On  the  other  hand, 

-when  these  elastic  fluids,  either  by  condensation^  or  by 

^jtbe  apjriication  of  cold  bodies,  are  reconverted  into  liquids^ 

-they  gtre^out  a  vnst  quantity  of  beat,  the  presence  of  which 

-Was  not  formerly  indicated  by  the  thermometer 

•     Thus  water  when  converted  into  ice  gives  out  140*  of 

beat^  aod  ice  when  converted  into  water  absorbs  140*  of 

heat^  and  vi^ter  when  converted  into  steam  absorbs  about 

.1000*  of  heal:  without  becoming  .sensibly  hotter  than  212^ 

Philosophers  had  been  long  accustomed  to  consider  the 

thermometer  as  the  surest  method  of  detecting  heat  in 

bodteS)  yet  this  instrument  gives  no  indication  of  the  140* 

of  heat  wbicfh  enter  into  air  when  it  is  convearted  into 

waten  HOC  of  the  lOQO*  which  combine  with  wfttier  when  it 


BLACK.  sot 

is  cop  verted  into  steam.  Dr.  Black,  therefore,  said  thM 
the  heat  is  concealed  (latit)  in  the  water  and  steam,  and- 
he  briefly  expressed  this  fact  by  calling  the  heat  in  that 
case  latent  heat.  < 

Dr.  Black  having  established  this  discovery  by  simple 
and  decisive  experiments,  drew  up  an  account  of  the  whole 
investigation,  and  read  it  to  a  literary  society  which  met 
every  Friday  in  the  faculty- room  of  the  college,  con- 
sisting of  the  members  of  the  university,  and  several  gen- 
tlemen of  the  city,  who  had  a  relish  for  philosophy  apd 
literature.  This  was  done 'April  23,  1763,  as  appears  by 
the  registers.  This  doctrine  was  immediately  applied  by 
its  author  to  the  explanation  of  a  vast  number  of  natural 
phaenomena,  and  in  his  experimental  investigations  he  was 
greatly  assisted  by  his  two  celebrated  pupils  Mr.  Watt  and 
Dr.  Irvine* 

As  Dr.  Black  never  published  an  account  of  his  doctrine 
of  latent  heat,  though  he  detailed  it  every  year  subsequent 
to  17€2  in  his  lectures,  which  were  frequented  by  men  of 
science  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  it  became  known  only 
through  that  channel,    and  this  gave  an  opportunity  to 
others  to  pilfer  it  from  him  pieee-meal.     Dr.  Crawford's 
ideas  respecting  the  capacity  of  bodies  for  heat,   were 
originally  derived  from  Dr^  Black,  who  first  pointed  out 
the  method  of  investigating  that  subject. 
•  The  investigations  of  Lavoisier  and  Laplace  concerning 
heat,  published  many  years  after,  were  obviously  borrowed 
from  Dr.  Black,  and  indeed  consisted  in  the  repetition  of 
the  very  experiments  which  he  had  suggested.     Yet  these 
philosophers  never  mention  Dr.  Black  at  all :  every  thtng- 
in  their  dissertation  assumes  the  air  of  originality;  and,-, 
indeed,  they  appear  to  have  been  at  great  pains  to  prevent 
the   opinions  and  discoveries  of  Dr.  Black  from  being  ( 
known  among  their  countrymen.     But  perhaps  the  most: 
extraordinary,  procedure  was  that  of  Mr.  Deluc  ;  this  phi<-.,> 
losopher  had  expressed  his  admiration  of  .Dr.  Black's  IJieory ' 
of  latent  heat,  and  had  offered  to  become  his  editor.     Sf  .r^ 
Black,  after  much  entreaty,  at  last  consented,    and  the 
proper  information  was  communicated  to  Mr.  Deluc,:  -  Ati 
last  the  ^^  Id^es  sur  la  Meteorologie''  of  that  philosophers 
appeared  in  1788.     But  what  was  the  astonishment  of  Dr* ; 
Black  and  his  friends^   when   they  found  the  dottjciiie^ 
aladftied  by  Deluc  as  his  own,  and  an  expressicm  o£  satis**/ 


34.0  BLACK. 

f«^tiott  at  the  knowledge  vAAth  be  had  acquired  of  Dr. 
Black!9  coincidence  with  him  in  opinion ! 

'  Dr.  Black  continued  in  the  university  of  Glasgow  from 
1756  to  1766,  much  respected  as  an  eminent  professor,' 
much  employed  as  an  able  and  most  attentive  physician, 
and  much  beloved  as  aa  amiable  and  accomplished  gentle- 
man,  and  happy  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  small  but  select 
society  of  friends.  Often,  however,  says  Dr.  Robison, 
have  I  seen  how  oppressive  his  medical  duties  were  on  his 
8|)irits,  when  he  saw  that  all  his  eiForts  did  not  alleviate 
the  sufferings  of  the  distressed.  When  his  dear  friend 
Dr.  Dick,  professor  of  natural  philosophy,  was  carried  off, 
Dr.  Black's  distress  indeed  was  exceedingly  great,  parti- 
cularly as  he  thought  that  another  mode  of  treatment  might 
have  been  more  successful. 

In  1766  Dr.  CuUen  was  appointed  professor  of  medicine 
in  the  univei^ity  of  Edinburgh,  and  thus  a  vacancy  was 
made  in  the  chemical  chair  of  that  university.  Dr.  Black 
was  with  universal  consent  appointed  his  successor.  In  this 
new  scene  his  talents  were  more  conspicuous,  and  more 
extensively  useful.  He  saw  this,  and  while  he  could  not 
but  be  highly  gratified  by  the  great  concourse  of  pupils 
which  the  high  reputation  of  the  medical  school  of  Edin* 
burgh  brought  to  his  lectures,  his  mind  was  forcibly  im* 
pressed  by  the  importance  of  his  duties  as  a  teacher* 
This  had  an  effect  whichj  perhaps,  was  on  the  whole  ra- 
ther unfortunate.  He  directed  his  whole  attention  to  his 
lectui^s,  and  his  object  was  to  make  them  so  plain  that 
they  should  be  adapted  to  the  capacity  of  the  most  illite- 
rate of  his  hearers.  The  improvement  of  the  science 
seems  to  have  been  laid  aside  by  him  altogether.  Never 
did  any  man  succeed  more  completely^  His  pupils  were 
not  oilly  instructed,  but  delighted.  Many  became  hki 
pupils  merely  in  order  to  be  pleased.  This  contributed 
greatly  to  extend  the  knowledge  of  chemistry.  It  became 
in  Edinburgh  a  fashionable  part  of  the  accomplishment  of 
a  gentleman, 

'  Perhaps,  also,  )be  delicacy  of  his  constitution  precluded 
Jiilh  from  exertion ;  the  slightest  cold,  the  most  trifling 
approach  tp  repletion,  iriimediately  affected  his  breast, 
oottasibned  feverishness,  and,  if  continued  for  two  or  tbreo 
days,  brought  6n  a  spitting!  of  blood.  :Nothing  restored 
but  refaaaticp  of  thought  and  gentle  exercise.'    Th^ 


9  L  A  C  K.  3U 

sedentary  life  to  which  study  confined  him  wa?  manifestly 
hurtful,  and  be  never  allowed  hinoself  to  indulge  in  any 
intense  thinking  witbput  finding  these  complaints  sensibly 
increased.  , 

So  completely  trammeled  was  he  in  this  respect,  that» 
although  his  friends  saw  others  disingenuous  enopgh  to 
avail  themselves  of  the  novelties  announced  by  Dr.  Black 
in  his  lectures,  and  therefore  repeatedly  urged  him  to 
publish  an  account  of  what  he  had  done ;  this  remained 
unaccomplished  to  the  last.  Dr.  Black  often  began  the 
task,  but  was  so  nice  in  his  notions  of  the  manner  in  which 
it  should  be  executed,  that  the  pains  he  took  in  forming  a 
plan  of  the  work,  never  failed  to  affect  his  health,  and 
oblige  him  to  desist.  Indeed,  he  peculiarly  disliked  ap- 
pearing as  an  author.  His  inaugural  dissertation  was  the 
work  of  duty.  His  <^  Experiments  on  Magnesia,  Quick- 
lime, and  other  alkaline  substances,"  was  necessary  to  pu^t 
what  he  had  indicated  in  his  inaugural  dissertations  on  a 
proper  foundation.  His  ^^  Observations  on  the  mojre  ready 
Freezing  of  water  that  has  been  boiled,"  published  in  the 
Philosophical  Transactions  for  1774,  was  also  called  for; 
and  his  ^^  Analysis  of  the  Waters  of  some  boiling  Springs 
in  Iceland,"  made  at  the  request  of  bis  friend  T,  I.  Stan- 
ley,  esq.  was  read  to  the  royal  society  of  Edinburgh,  ai^d 
published  by  vthe  council  And  these  are  the  only  works 
of  his  which  appeared  in  print  beforp  the  publication  of  his 
lectures  after  his  death,  by  professor  Robison,  in  1803, 
2  vols.  4to. 

The  aspect  of  Dr.  Black  was  comely  and  interesting. 
His  couatenance  exhibited  that  pleasing  expression  of  in*, 
ward  satisfaction,  which,  by  giving  ease  to  the  beholder, 
never  fails  to  please.  His  manner  was  unaffected  and 
graceful.  He  was  affable,  and  readily  entered  into  con- 
versation, whether  serious  or  trivial.  He  was  a  stranger 
to  none  of  the  elegant  accomplishments  of  life.  He  had 
a  fine  musical  ear>  with  a  voice  which  would  obey  it  in 
the  most  perfect  manner ;  for  he  sung  and  performed  pa 
the  flute  with  great  taste  and  feeling,  and  could  sing  a 
plain  air  at  sight,  which  many  instrumental  performed 
cannot  do.  Without  h^viug  studied  drawing,  he  had  acr 
quired  a  considerable  power  of  expressing  with  his  pencil 
and  seemed  in  this  respect  to  have  the  talents  of  a  history 
painter.  Figure,  indeed,  of  every  kind,  attracted  his  at« 
tention.     Even  a  retort,  or  a  crucible,  was  to  his  eye  an 


S12  B  L  A  C  K. 

Example  of  beauty  or  deformity.  He  had  the  strongest 
daim  to  the  appellation  of  a  man  of  propriety  and  correct* 
ness.  Every  thing  was  done  in  its  proper  season,  and  be 
ever  seemed  to  have  leisure  in  store.  He  loved  society, 
and  felt  himself  beloved  in  it ;  never  did  he  lose  a  single 
friend>  except  by  the  stroke  of  death.  His  only  appre- 
hension was  that  of  a  long  continued  sick  bed  ;  less,  per« 
haps,  from  any  selfish  feeling,  than  from  the  consideration 
of  the  trouble  and  distress  which  it  would  occasion|to  at- 
tending ftiends :  and  never  was  this  generous  wish  more 
completely  gratified.  On  the  26th  Nov.  1799,  and  in  the 
seventy-first  year  of  his  age,  he  expired  without  any  con- 
vulsions, shock,  or  stupor,  to  announce  or  retard  the  ap- 
proach* of  death.  Being  at  table  with  his  usual  fare,  some 
bread,  a  few  prunes,  and  a  measured  quantity  of  milk  di- 
luted with  water,  and  having  the  cup  in  his  hand,  when 
the  last  stroke  of  the  pulse  was  to  be  given,  he  set  it  down 
on  his  knees,  which  were  joined  together,  and  kept  it 
steady  with  his  hand,  in  the  manner  of  a  person  perfectly 
at  ease ;  and  in  this  attitude  expired,  without  spilling  a 
drop,  and  without  a  writhe  in  his  countenance,  as  if  an 
experiment  had  been  required  to  shew  to  his  friends  the 
facility  with  which  he  departed.  His  servant  opened  the 
door  to  tell  him  that  some  one  had  left  his  name ;  but 
getting  no  answer,  stepped  about  half-way  towards  him, 
and  seeing  him  in  that  easy  posture,  supporting  his  bason 
of  milk  with  one  hand,  he  thought  that  he  had  dropt  asleep, 
which  sometimes  happened  after  his  meals.  He  went 
back  and  shut  the  door;  but  before  he  went  down  stairs, 
some  anxiety,  which  he  could  not  account  for,  made  him 
return  again,  and  look  at  bis  master.  Even  then  he  was 
satisfied 'after  coming  pretty  near  him,  and  turned  to  go 
away  ;  but  returning  again,  and  coming  up  close  ta  him, 
be  found  him  without  life. 

To  this  sketch,  abridged  from  professor  Robison's  life 
for  the  Literary  Journal,  we  have  only  to  add,  that  Four« 
croy,  the  eminent  French  chemii^t,  used  to  call  Dr.  Black, 
the  illustrious  Nestor  of  the  chemical  revolution,  and 
indeed,  in  every  part  of  Europe,  where  >  chemistry  has 
been  studied.  Dr.  Black  was  named  with  peculiar  vene-* 

iration.  ^ 

•  ■ 

I  life  tthj  snpra.-7^6e  also  Bibliotheque  Britaimi^ue,  voL  XXVlIL 


BLACK  A  L  L.  31S 

r.  BLACKALL  (Offsprinq,  D.  D.)>  an  eminent  Engluk 
jdivine,  was  born  in  London,  1654,  and  educated  at  Ca»- 
iherine-hall,  Cambridge.     In  1690,  he  was  inducted  into 
the  living  of  South  Okenden,  Essex,  and  four  years  after- 
wards to  the  rectory  of  St.  Mary  Alderinary,  London ;  and 
.was  successively  chosen  lecturer  of  St.  Oiave's,  and  of  St. 
Dunstan's  in  the  West.     He  was  likewise  appointed  chap* 
.lain  to  king  Wiliiani.     He  preached  before  the  house  of 
commons  Jan.  30,  1699,  and  in  bis  sermon  animadverted 
•on  Mr.  Toland  for  his  asserting  in  his  life  of  Milton,  that 
Charles  I.  was  not  the  author  of  ^^  Icon  Basitike,"  and  for 
.some   insinuations   against  the   authenticity  of  the  holy 
scriptures ;    which    drew    him    into    a   controversy  with 
that  author.     In  1700,  he  preached  a  course  of  sermons  at 
Boyle^s  lecture,  in  the  cathedral  church  of  St.  Paul,  which 
were  afterwards  published.     In  1707,  he  was  consecrated 
to  the   bishopric  of  Exeter.     Burnet,  having  mentioned 
;him  and  sir  William  Dawes  as  raised  to  bishoprics,  tells 
us,  ^^  that  these  divines  were  in  themselves  men  of  value 
and  worth ;  but  their  notions  were  all  on  tbe  other  side. 
They  had  submitted  to.  the  government;  but  they,  at  least 
Blackall,  seemed  to  condemn  the  revolution,  and  all  that 
had  been  done  pursuant  to  if     And  it.  is  asserted  in  an 
anonymous  pamphlet,  published  in  1705,  that  he  had  re- 
fused for  two  years  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  king 
William.  -    But  what  contributed  most  to  his  fame  in  his 
life- time  was  a  controversy  he  had  with  Mr.  (afterwards 
bisho{})  Hoadly,  which  was  occasioned  by  his  sermon  upon 
liom.  xiii.  3,  4,    entitled,    ^^  The   Divine   Institution    of 
Magistracy,  and  the  gracious  design  of  its  institution,*' 
preached  betbre  the  queen  at  St.  Jameses  on  Tuesday, 
March  8,  1708,  being  the  anniversary  of  her<  majesty's 
happy  accession  to  the  throne,  and  published  by  her  ma- 
jesty's   special    command.      The  next  year,    1709,    Mr. 
Hoadly  animadverted  upon  the  bishop's  sermon,  in  a  piece, 
(entitled  ^^  Some  Considerations  humbly  offered  to  the  right 
reverend  the  lord  bishop  of  Exeter,  occasioned  by  his  lord* 
ship's  sermon  before  her  majesty,  March  8,  1708."    Upon 
.this  the  bishop  published  ^^An  Answer  to  Mr.Hoadly's  Let- 
ter," dated  from  Bath,  May  the  lOth,  1709.  Mr.  Hoadly  en* 
deavoured  to  vindicate  himself,  in  ^.^  An  humble  Reply  to  the 
right  reverend  the  lord  bishop  of  Exeter^s  answer;  in  which 
the  Considerations  offered  to  his  lordship  are  vindicated, 
^nd  an  apology  is  added  f^r  defending  tjie  foundation  of 


Si*  BLACKALL. 

ibe  present  government/'  London,  1709,  in  8va  In  this 
controversy,  bishop  Blackall  defends  the  High-charcby 
Tory,  principles  (as  they  usually  are  called),  of  the  divine 
institution  of  magistracy,  and  unlimited  passive  obedience 
and  non*resista^nce ;  which  Mr.  Hoadly  opposes.  There 
.were  several  pamphlets  written  on  the  side  of  the  bishop 
against  Mr.  Hoadly ;  particularly  one,  entitled,  ^^  The  best 
Answer  that  ever  was  made,  and  to  which  no  answer  will 
be  made ;"  supposed  to  be  written  by  Mr.  Lesley,  a  non- 
juring  clergyman,  and  which  Mr.  Hoadly  animadverts  upon 
in  the  postscript  to  his  humble  reply.  The  wits  in  the 
Tatler  engaged  in  this  controversy  on  the  side  of  Hoadly, 
and  with  an  illiberality  not  usual  in  the  writers  of  that  paper. 
He  died  at  Exeter,  Nov.  29,  1716,  and  was  interred  ill 
the  cathedral  there.  Archbp.  Dawes,  who  had  a  long  and 
intimate  friendship  with  him,  declares,  that  in  his  whole 
conversatiori  he  never  met  with  a  more  perfect  pattern  of  a 
true  Christian  life,  in  all  its  parts,  than  in  him :  so  much 
primitive  simplicity  and  integrity;  such  constant  even- 
ness of  mind,  and  uniform  conduct  of  behaviour ;  such  un^ 
affected  and  yet  most  ardent  piety  towards  God ;  such  or* 
thodox  and  steadfast  faith  in  Christ ;  such  disinterested  and 
fervent  charity  to  all  mankind  ;  such  profound  modesty, 
humility,  and  sobriety  ;  such  an  equal  mixture  of  meekness 
and  courage,  of  cheerfulness  and  gravity;  such  an  exact 
discharge  of  all  relative  duties  ;  and  in  one  word,  such  an 
indifFerency  to  this  lower  world  and  the  things  of  it;  and 
such  an  entire  affection  and  joyous  hope  and  expectation 
of  things  above.  He  says  also,  that  his  *^  manner  of 
preaching  was  so  excellent,  easy,  clear,  judicious,  sub- 
stantial, pious,  affecting,  and  upon  all  accounts  truly  use- 
ful and  edifying,  that  he  universally  acquired  the  reputa- 
tion of  being  one  of  the  best  preachers  of  his  time."  Fel- 
ton,  in  his  Classics,  commends  him  as  an  excellent  writer. 
M.  de  la  Roche,  in  his  memoirs  of  literature,  tells  us,  that 
our  prelate  was  one  of  those  English  divines,  who,  when 
they  undertake  to  treat  a  subject,  dive  into  the  bottom  of 
it,  and  exhaust  the  matter.  His  works  were  published  by 
archbishop  Dawes,  in  2  vols.  fol.  1723,  consisting  of  Prac- 
tical discourses  on  our  Saviour's  Sermon  on  the  mount,  and 
on  the  Lord's  Prayer,  together  with  his  sermons  preached 
at  Boyle's  lecture,  with  several  others  upon  particular  oc- 
casions. ^ 

»  Gen.  Diet— Biog.  Brit— Tatlcf,  8vo  edition  with  nates,  vol.  L  p.  393, 
461,  470,  51»«-524. 


BLACKBOUR  NE.  3l5 


BLACKBOURNE  (John),  a  learned  Englbh  divme 
the  last  century,  was  born  in  16S3,  and  educated  at  Tribttgr 
college,  Cambridge,  where  he  took  the  degree  of  M*  A. 
Whether  he  had  any  promotion  in  the  church  is  not  cer« 
tain  ;  but  soon  after  the  revolution,  he  refused  to  take  the' 
oaths,  and  consequently  excluded  himself  from  advanotng' 
in  the  church.  From  that  time  be  lived  a  very  exemplary 
and  studious  life,  endeavouring  to  be  useful  to  niankindy 
both  as  a  scholar  and  divine.  To  preserve  his  independ- 
ence, he  became  corrector  of  the  press  to  Bowyer,  die 
celebrated  printer,  and  'was  one  of  the  most  accurate  of 
his  profession.  The  edition  of  lord  Bacon's  works  in  1740 
was  superintended  by  him  ;  and  he  was  also  editor  of  the 
castrations  of  Holinshed's  Chronicle,,  and  of  Bale's 
'*  Chronycle  concernynge  syr  Jol^an  Oldecastelh"  A 
handsome  compliment  is  paid  him  in  Maittaire's  Lives  of  the 
Paris  printers,  1717;  and  again  in  his  '' Miscellanea  ali- 
quot Scriptorum  carmina,"  1722.  For  some  years  before 
his  death,  he  was  a  nonjuring  bishop,  but  lived  retired  ia 
Little  Britain  among  his  old  books.  What  his  hopes  were^ 
of  a  second  revolution  will  appear  from  the  answer  he  gave 
a  gentleman  who  asked  him  if  be  was  in  bis  diocese  i 
*'  Dear  friend,  we  leave  the  sees  open,  that  the  gentle-^ 
men  who  now  unjustly  possess  them,  upon  the  restoration^ 
may,  if  they  please,  return  to  their  duty  and  be  continued. 
We  content  ourselves  with  full  episcopal  power  as  suffra-> 
gans."  Mr.  Blackboume  died  Nov.  17,  1741,  and  his  li« 
brary  was  sold  by  auction  in  February  1 742.  He  was 
buried  in  Islington  church-yard,  with  an  epitaph,  which 
may  be  seen  in  our  authority.  * 

BLACKBURN  (William),  an  eminent  surveyor  and 
architect,  was  born  in  the  borough  of  Soutbwark,  on  the 
20th  of  December,  1750.  His  father  was  a  respectable 
tradesman  in  St.  John's  parish,  and  his  mother  was  a  native 
of  Spain.  The  whole  of  his  grammatical  education  was 
derived  from  a  "common  seminary  in  the  neighbourhood ; 
and  at  a  proper  age  he  was  placed  under  a  surveyor  of  no 
eminence,  but  from  whom  he  derived  very  few  advantages 
in  the  knowledge  of  his  profession.  However,  from  the 
natural  bent  of  ah  ardent  mind,  he  sought  the  acquaint^ 
ance  of  men  of  genius,  several  of  whom  belonged  to  the 
Boyal  Academy.    Into  that  aoadeixiy  he  was  admitted  as  ^ 

,  ,    ^  NicUoU^s  Bowyer. 


316  BLACKBURN. 

student;  and  in  1773  he  was  presented  with  the  medal  for 
the  best  drawing  of  the  inside  of  St.  Stephen's  church  iii 
Walbrook.  This  prize  he  bore  away  from  many  competi- 
tors ;  and)  at  the  delivery  of  it,  received  a  high  compli- 
ment to  his  abilities  from  the  late  sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  the 
president.  About  the  same  time  he  entered  into  business 
for  himself  in  South wark,  and  carried  it  on  for  some 
years  with  increasing  success  among  his  private  connec- 
tions, when  an  event  occurred  which  brought  him  into 
public  notice  and  reputation.  An  act  of  parliament  had 
passed  in  1779,  declaring,  that  'Mf  any  offenders  con- 
victed of  crimes  for  which  transportation  had  been  usually 
inflicted,  were  ordered  to  solitary  imprisonment,  accom- 
panied by  well  regulated  labour  and  religious  instruction, 
it  might  be  the  means,  under  providence,  not  only  of  de- 
terring others  from  the  commission  of  the  like  crimen,  but 
also  of  reforming  the  individuals,  and; enuring  them  to  the 
habits  of  industry .''  By  this  act  his  majesty  was  authorised 
to  appoint  three  persons  to  be  supervisors  of  the  buildings 
to  be  erected;  and  the  supervisors  were  to  fix  upon  any 
common,  heath,  or  waste,  or  any  other  piece  of  ground, 
in  Middlesex,  Essex,  Kent,  or  Surrey,  on  which  should 
be  erected  two  plain  strong  edifices,  to  be  called  "  Peni- 
tentiary Houses ;"  one  for  the  confinement  and  employ- 
ment of  six  hundred  males,  the  other  of  three  hundred  fe- 
males. In  the  same  year  in  which  the  act  was  passed, 
three  supervisors  were  appointed  to  carry  it  into  execution* 
These  were  John  Howard,  esq*  George  Whatley,  esq.  and 
Dr.  John  FothergilL  This  commission  however  was  dis- 
solved, first  by  the  death  of  Dr.  Fothergill,  and  soon  after 
that  event  by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Howard,  who  found  it 
not  in  his  power  to  coalesce  with  his  remaining  colleague. 
Another  set  of  supervisors  was  therefore  ^.ppointed  in  1781, 
being  sir  Gilbert  Elliot,  hart,  sir  Charles  Bunbury,  hart, 
and  Thomas  Bowdler,  esq.  One  of  the  principal  objects 
with  these  gentlemen  was  to  provide  that  they  should  be 
constructed  in  the  manner  most  conducive  to  the  ends  of 
solitary  confinement,  useful  labour,  and  moral  reformation. 
Accordingly,  the  supervisors  proposed  premiums  for  the 
best  plans  that  should  be  produced  of  the  penitentiary 
houses  intended  to  be  erected*  The  highest,  preiqium  was 
a  hundred  guineas,  which  was  unanimously  assigiied  to  Mr. 
Blackburn,  in  the  month  of  March  1782.  This  preference^ 
as^  pecuniary  consideration,  was  a  matter  of  little  conse« 


BLACKBURN.  81» 

\ 

quence.  The  grand  advantage  that  was  to  be  expected 
from  it,  with  regard  to  Mr.  Blackburn,  was,  that  tie  ftboukl 
be  employed  as  the  architect  and  surveyor  of  the  boildings 
proposed.  And  in  fact  he  was  appointed  by  the  super* 
visors  to  that  office^  and  the  plan  of  a  penitentiary  house 
•for  male  offenders  was  accordingly  arranged  by  bim,  and 
proper  draughts  were  made  for  the  use  of  the  workmen ; 
and  a  gre^t  part  of  the  work  was  actually  contracted  for  by 
different  persons.  Yet  the  designs  of  government  were 
not  carried  into  execution ;  the  circumstances  of  the  times 
having  diverted  the  attention  of  public  men  from  this  imi- 
portant  object :  nor  has  it  ever  since  been  resumed.  Ne^ 
verthele^s, .  though .  Mr*  Blackburn  might  in  this  respect  be 
disappointed  of  his  Just  expectations,  he  did  not  lose  his 
reward,  i»or  was  the  nation  deprived  of  the  benefit  arising 
from  his  ingenuity.  A  spirat  of  erecting  prisons  in  conv 
formity  to  his  plans  was,  immediately-  excited  ;  and  many 
county  gaols,  and  other  structures  of  the  same  nature^ 
were  built  under  his  inspection.  Besides  the  completion 
of  several  prisons^,  Mr.  Blackburn  was  engaged  in  o4;(ier 
designs  of  a  similar  nature,  when  be  was  arrested  by  the 
hand  of  death,  in  the  fortieth  year  of  his  age..  He  de- 
parted this  life  on  the  28th  day  of  October,  1790,  at  Pret- 
ton  in  Lancashire,  being  on  a  journey  to  Scotland,  whither 
he  was  going  at  the  instance  of  his.  grace* the  duke  of  Buc- 
cleugh,  and  the  lord  provost  of  Glasgow,  with  a  view  to 
the  erection  of  a  new  gaol  in  that  city.  From  Preston  his 
remains  were. removed  to  London,  and  interred  in  the 
burying- ground  of  Buahill-fields. 

A  few  weeks  before. his  decease,  he  had  been  applied  to 
respecting  a  penitentiary  house  for  Ireland.  At  a  former 
period,  in  1787,  he  went  over  to  that  country,  upon  an  ap<> 
plication  from  Limerick;  in  consequence  of  which  he 
drew  the  plan  of  a  new  gaol  for  that  city.  He  also  sug- 
gested many,  improvements  which  might  be  made  in  the 
gaol  of  Newgate  in  the  city  of  Dublin,  and  which  wene 
accordingly  adopted. 

It  .was  not  to  the  erection  of  prisons  only  that  Mr.  Black* 
burn's  talents  were  confined.  Three  elegant  designs  wene 
drawn  by  him  for  a  new  church  at.Hackney,  one  of  which 
was  intended  to  have  been  carried  into  execution;  but 
after  his  decease  the  scheme  was  ]aid  aside,  on  account  of 
the  expence  which  the  completion  of  it  would  occasion. 
He  was  employed,  likewise,  in  preparing  various  designs 


918  B:L  A  C  K  B.U  R:N. 

tor  bottsies^.vilks^  &c.  lit  many  .of  bis  dniwings  ^eat 
taste  is  'displayed,  as  weii  as  a  tborough  knowledge  of  bis 
favourite  science  of  architecture.!'  It  was.  in  cont^pki'- 
tiofi,  some  tikiie  after  his  deaths  to  eagrave  and  publish 
ills: principai  drawings;  but  the,  inbention  of  doing;  it  is 
dropped^  at  least  for  the  .present..  .  . 

Being  a  dissenter  of  the  presbyterian  denomiiiation,  be 
fvas  in  the  habits  of  iutimacy  with  the  principal  persons  of 
that  persuasion  both  in  town  and  country  ;.  without  how* 
ever  confining  his  regard  and  affection  to  any  particular 
«ect.  But  what  confers  peculiar  honour .  on.  Mr.  Black- 
burn's memory  is,  that  he  enjoyed  the  intiniate  friendship 
and  entire  esteem  of  the  excellent  Mr.  Howard ;  that  he 
concurred  with  him  in  his  ideas^  aad  eminently  promoted 
his  benevolent  designs.  Mr.  Blackburn  frequently  corre- 
sponded with  Mr.  Howard,  when  that  gentleman  was  env 
gaged,  either  at  home  or  abroad,  in  his  journeys  and  voy- 
ages of  humanity.  Of  Mr.  Bbckburn  Mr.  Howard  used  to 
say,  that  he  was  the  only  man  he  ever  met  with,  who  was 
capable  of  delineating  to  his  mind,  upon  paper,  his  ideas 
of  what  a  prison  ought  to  be.  . 

The  person  of  Mr.  Blackburn  was  of  the  middle  stature ; 
and  from  his  early  youth  he  was  so  very  corpulent,  that  his 
friends  were  filled  with  apprehensions,  too  unhappily  ve- 
rified,, that  his  life  would  not  be  a  long  one.  Till  he 
became  twenty-five  years  of  age,  he  drank  nothing,  but 
water.  But  at  that  time,  in  consequence  of  a  severe  fit  of 
sickness,  be  was  advised  by  the  late  Dr.  John  Fotbergill  to 
change  his  beverage  for  malt  liquor^  and  occasionally  to 
take  a  glass  of  wine.  The  aiHiction  of  another  severe  ill- 
ness, later  in  life,  was  sustained  by  him  with  eminent  and 
eKemplary  resignation  and  fortitude.  Previously  to  his 
last  journey  he  was  considerably  better,  and  entertained 
hope«  that  traveUing  might  contribute  to  the  restoration  of 
his  former. health :  but  it  was  ordered  otherwise  by  the  sn«- 
preme  Disposer  of  even^.  By  a  sudden  stroke  he  was  for 
ever  taken  from  his  beloved  wife  and  children  ;  who,  with 
a  number  of  select  friends,  were  left  to  lament  a  loss^ 
which  they  must  feel  so  long  as  they  remain  in  this  world. 
The  chara<:ter  of  Mr.  Blackburn  was,  in  every  view  of  it, 
amiable  and  respectable.  In  discharging  the  duties  and 
relations  of  life,  he  was  uniform  and  consistent  He  was 
very  cheerful .  in  his  temper,  and  affable  and  engaging  in 
his  behaviour.     Being  endued  with  a  great  flow  of  spirits. 


BLACKBURN.  Slir 

and  much  vivacity  of  mind,  his  conversation  was  at  oncef 
agreeable  and  instructive.  In  February,  1783,  Mr.  Black-* 
burn  married  Lydia,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Joshua  Hobaon, 
an  eminent  buiider  in  his  neighbourhood  ;  an  amiable  wo«*. 
man,  with,  whom  he  lived  in  the  most  perfect  harmony, 
and  by.  whom  he  left  four  children.  ^ 

BLACKfiURNE  (Francis),  the  celebrated  author  of 
the  ^^  Confessional,"  was  born  at  Richmond  in  Yorkshire^ 
June  9,  1705.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  was  admitted 
pensioner  of  Catherine-hall,  Cambridge,  where  his  pecu** 
liar  notions  on  civil  and  religious  liberty  rendered  him  ob^ 
noxious  to  his  superiors,  and  occasioned  the  loss  of  a  fel-* 
lowship  for  which  he  was  a  candidate.  In  1739,  he  waa 
ordained  by  Dr.  Gooch,  bishop  of  Norwich,  at  £ly  chapel, 
Holborn,  and  in  a  short  time  afterwards  was  inducted  into 
the  rectory  of  Richmond  in  Yorkshire,  where  he  resided 
constantly  for  forty  years,  during  which  he  composed  all 
the  pieces  contained  in  the  late  edition  of  his  works,  be-< 
sides  a  multitude  of  smaller  ones.  His  first  appearance  as 
an  author  was  on  the  following  occasion.  In  1749,  thd 
rev.  John  Jones,  vicar  of  Alconbury,  near  Huntingdon, 
published  his  ^'  Free  and  candid  disquisitions  relating  to 
the  Church  of  England,"  containing  many  observations  on 
the  supposed  defeote  and  improprieties  in  the  liturgical 
forms  of  faith  and  worship  of  the  established  church.  As 
Mr.  Blackburne  corresponded  with  this  gentleman,  who 
had  submitted  the  work  to  his  perusal  in  manuscript,  and 
as  there  were  many  of  his  opinions  in  which  Mr.  Blackburne 
aoincided,  it  was  not  unnatural  to  suppose  that  he  had  a 
hand  in  the  publication.  This,  however,  Mr.  Blackburne 
solemnly  denied,  and  his  biographer  has  assigned  the  pro* 
bable  reason.  "  The  truth,"  says  he,  **  is,  Mr.  Black- 
burne, whatever  desire  he  might  have  to  forward  the  work 
of  ecclesiastical  reformation,  could  not  possibly  conform 
his  style  to  the  milky  phraseology  of  the  ^  Disquisitions,* 
nor  could  he  be  content  to  have  bis  sentiments  mollified 
by  the  gentle  qualifications  of  Mr.  Jones's  lenient  pen.  He 
was  rather  (perhaps  too  much)  inclined  to  look  upon  those 
who  had  in  their  hands  the  means  and  the  power  of  reforming 
the  errors,  defects,  and  abuses,  in  the  government,  forms 
of  worship,  faith  and  discipline,  of  the  established  church  ; 
as  guilty  of  a  criminal  negligence,  from  which  they  should 

1  Communicated  for  the  lafst  edition  of  tbiji  Diclionar)v— Goat.  Mag,  vol.  LV. 
325,  XLIX  567.— Aikin'9  Life  of  Howard,  p.  108,  1Q9. 


%M  B  L  A  C  K  B  U  R  N  E. 

have  been  roused  by  sharp  and  spirited  expostulations.  He 
thought  it  became  disquisitors^  with  a  cause  in  band  of 
such  high  importance  to  the  influence  of  vital  Christianity, 
rather  to  have  boldly  forced  the  utmost  resentment  of  the 
class  of  men  to  which  they  addressed  their  work,  than,  by 
meanly  truckling  to  their  arrogance,  to  derive  upon  them*, 
selves  their  ridicule  and  contempt,  which  all  the   world 
saw  was  the  case  of  these  gentle  suggesters,  and  all  the 
return  they  had  for  the  civility  of  their  application."     Ani*. 
mated  by  this  spirit,  which  we  are  far  from  thinking  can- 
did or  expedient,  Mr.  Blackburne  published  "  An  Apo^ 
logy,"  for  the  "  Free  and  candid  disquisitions,"  to  which, 
whatever  might  b<g  its  superior  boldness  to  the  ^^  milky 
phraseology"  of  Mr.  Jones,  he  yet  did  not  venture  to  pub 
his  name ;  nor,  although  he  was  suspected  to  be  the  author, 
did  he  meet  with  any  of  that  ^'  arrogance,"  which  is  attri- 
buted to  those  who  declined  adopting  Mr.  Jones's  scheme 
of  church-reformation.     On  the  contrary,  in  July,  1750, 
he  was  collated  to  the  archdeaconry  of  Cleveland,  and  in 
August  following  to  the  prebend  of  Bilton,  by  Dr.  Mat- 
thew Hutton,  archbishop  of  York,  to  whom  he  had  been 
for  some  years  titular  chaplain  ;  and  when  his  friends  inti- 
mated their  suspicions  that  he  would  write  no  more  ^^  Apo- 
logies"   for  such    books   as  ^^  Free  .and  candid   Diquisi- 
tions,"  he  answered,  "  with  a  cool  indifference,"  that  he 
had  made  no  bargain  with  the  archbishop  for  his  liberty. 
His  next  publication,  accordingly,  was  an  attack-  on  Dr. 
Butler  bishop  of  Durbam's  charge  to  his  clergy  in  1751, 
which,  in  Mr.  Blackburne'?  opinion,  contained  some  doc^ 
trines  diametrically  opposite  to  the  principles  on  which  the 
protestant   reformation   was  founded.     This  appeared,  in 
175*2,  under  the  title  of  "  A  iSerious  Enquiry  into  the  use 
and  importance  of  external  religion,  &c."  but  was   not 
generally  known  to  be  his,  until  Mr.  Baron,  an  enthuskiast 
in   controversies,    republished   it   with   Mr.    Blackburne's 
name,  in  his  collection,  entitled  "  The  Pillars  of  Priest- 
craft and  Orthodoxy  shaken." 

His  next  publications  were  on  the  subjects  of  the  new 
style-^— Archdeacon  Sharpe's  charges — the  Jew  naturaliza- 
tion-bill— a  letter  to  archbishop  Herring,  on  church  refor- 
mation— none  of  which  require  much  notice.  When  in 
1755,  Dr.  Law's  notion  appeared  concerning  the  soul  and 
the  state  of  death,  or  what  was  called  '^  the  soul-sleeping 
system/'  Mr.  Blackburne  adopted,  and  defended  it  in  a  tract 


B  L  A  C  K  B  U  R  N  E. 


%2t 


entitled  ^'  No  proof  in  the  Scriptures  of  an  intermediate 
state  of  happiness  or  misery,  between  death  and  the  resur* 
rectton/'  and  he  urged  the  same  opinion. in  a  subsequent 
tract ;  but  as  the  Confessional  is  the  publication  on  which 
his  fame  principally  rests,  the  history  of  it  is  more  interest-* 
ing  than  any  detail  of  his  minor' tracts.     On  Commence^- 
ment  Sunday  1757,  Dr.  Powell,  an  eminent  tutor  of  St. 
John's  college,  Cambridge^  published  a  sermon  on  sub- 
scription to  the  Liturgy  and  XXXIX  articles,  in  which  he 
maintained  that  a  latitude  was  allowed  to  subscribers,  evea 
so  far  as  to  admit  of  the  assent  and  consent  of  different 
persons  to  different  and  even  opposite  opinions,  according 
to  their  different  interpretations  of  the  propositions  to  be 
subscribed.     Dr.  PowelPs  casuistry  on  the  subject  appeared 
to  Mr.  Blackburne  so  detestable,  and  so  subversive  of  the 
principles  of  good  faith  among  men,  that  he  determined  to  - 
expose  and  refute  it  to  the  best  of  his  power,  and  accord- 
ingly published  "  Remarks  on  the  rev.  Dr.  Powell's  Ser- 
mon in  defence  of  Subscriptions,  &c."  1758.     His  senti« 
ments  on  the  subject  of  subscriptions  are  thus  explained, 
in   that   part   of  his  life  which  was  written  l>y  himself. 
'*  When  he  took  possession  of  the  living  of  Richmond,  he 
had  been  engaged  in  a  way  of  life  that  did  not  give  him 
time  or  opportunity  to  reflect  upon  subjects  of  that  nature 
with  precision ;  and  though,  upon  taking  his  first  prefer- 
ment, he  determined  conscientiously  to  perform  the  duties 
of  it,  yet  he  was  by  no  means  aware  of  the  difficulties  that 
afterwards  embarrassed  him  in  qualifying  himself  for  hold- 
ing it.     He,  therefore,  then  subscribed  as  directed  by  law, 
without  scruple,  and  without  apprehending  the  obligation 
he  laid  himself  under,  according  to  the  form,  of  giving  his 
assent  and  consent  to  the  whole  system  of  the  church. 
When  the  same  form  was  to  be  subscribed  to  qualify  him 
to  hold  the  archdeaconry  and  prebend,  he  consulted  some 
of  *his  friends,  and  particularly  Dr.  Law  (afterwards  bishop 
of  Carlisle),  who  gave  him  his  opinion  at  large,  containing 
such  reasons,  as  had  occurred  to  himself  on  the  several  oc- 
casions he  had  to  undergo  that  discipline.     He  was  like- 
wise referred  to  Dr.  Clarke's  Introduction  to  his  Scripture 
Doctrine  of  the  Trinity  :  and  lastly,  to  the  sixth  article  of 
the   church  of  England;    all   which  appeared    plausible 
enough  to  satisfy  him,  for  that  time,  that  with  these  salvos 
and  modifications,  he  might  safely  subscribe  to  the  prescribed 
forms.— Some  time  afterwards,  however,  upon  a  prospect 
Vol.  V.  Y 


Ui  p  L  A  C  K  B  U  R  N  E. 

of  farther  advancement  to  a  considerable  preferment,  hd 
took  occasion  to  re-consider  these  arguments,  and  thought 
they  fell  short  of  giving  that  satisfaction  which  an  honest 
i^an  would  wish  to  have,  when   he  pledges  his  good  faith 
to  society  in  so  solemn  a  form  as  that  prescribed  by  the 
36th  canon,  enjoining  subscription  to  the  articles  and  li« 
turgical  forngis  of  the  church  of  England. 
.  ^Mi>  this  situation  of  mind,  he  set  himself  to  examine 
iiito  the  rise  and  progress  of  this  requisition  in  protestant 
cburphes,  and  into  the  arguments  brought  in  defence,  or 
pather  in  excuse  of  it ;  the  result  of  which  was  the  compi- 
lation since  known  by  the  name  of  the  *  Confessional,  or 
a  full  and  free  enquiry  into  the  right,  utility,  and  success 
of  establishing  Confessions  of  Faith  and  Doctrine  in  Protes-^ 
taot  churjches.'     This  work  lay  by  him  in  manuscript  for 
son)p  years.     He  had  communicated  his  plan  to  Dr.  Ed- 
mund Law,  who  encouraged  him  greatly  in  the  progress 
of  it,  and  appears  by  many  letters  in  the  course  of  their 
correspondence  to  have  been  extremely  impatient  to  have 
it  published.;    The  fair  copy,  l\owever,  was  never  seen  by 
any  of  the  author^ s  acquaintance,  one  confidential  friend 
excepted,  who  spoke  of  its  existence  and  contents  to  the 
l^te.  patriotic  Thomas  Hollis,  esq.  to  whom  the  author  at 
this  time  was  not  personally  known.     Mr.  Hollis  mentioned 
this  ma4iuscript  to  Mr.  Andrew  Millar,  the  bookseller,  who 
in  1763,  intending  a  summer  excursion  to  visit  his  friends 
in  Scotland,  was  desired  by  Mr.  Hollis  to  call  upon  Mr. 
Blackburne  at  Richmond,  where,  after  some  conversation, 
the  manuscript  was  consigned  to  Mr.  Millar's  care /or  pub- 
lication, and  accordingly  came  out  in  the  spring  of  1766. 
The  only  condition  made  with  Mr.  Millar  was,  that  the 
author's  name  should  be  concealed,'* 

Such  is  the  author's  account  of  the  origin  of  this  celcr 
brated  woirk,    which   soon  gave  rise  to  a  controversy  of 
considerable  length.     We  follow  him  with  more  reluctance 
in  his  account  of  its  reception,  in  which  he  states  that, 
grievous  oiFence  was  taken  at  it  by  that  part  of  the  clergy 
"  who  affect  to  call  themselves  orthodox ;"  and  archbishop. 
Seeker  is  stated  to  have  thrown  off  his  mask  of  moderation 
at,once.     More  caini  reasoners^  however,  at  this  later  pe- 
riod may  be  of  opinion,  that  many  of  the  opponents  of  the 
Confessional  stood  in  no  need  of  affectation  to  indicate  the 
class  to  which  they  belonged  ;  and  that  the.  archbishop,  as, 
veil  as  many  of  his  brethren,  might  think  themselves  amply 


B  L  A  C  K  B  U  R  N  E.  $2% 

justified  in  considering  the  Confessional,  as  hating  a  ten-^ 
dency  to  render  the  principles  of  the  church  of  England  a 
series  of  private  opinions  ending  in  no  general  system,  and. 
affording  encouragement  to  perpetual  fluctuation  and  in* 
decision,  under  pretence  of  regard  for  conscience.  Nor^ 
as  the  press  was  to  be  the  medium  of  this,  cbntrovefsy,  can 
we,  upon  any  principles  of  candour,  conceive,  why  arch-^ 
bishop  Seeker,  or  any  of  his  brethren,  should  be  censured 
for  encouraging  the  best  writers  they  could  find. 

This  controversy  lasted  from  1766,  the  period  of  pub- 
lishing the  first  edition  of  the  Confessional,  to  1772,  when 
it  was  in  part  revived,  or  rather  continued  (for  it  had  never 
been  entirely  dropt),  in  consequence  of  an  application 
made  to  parliament  for  relief  in  the  matter  of  subscription^ 
During  this  ■  time,  between  seventy  and  eighty  pamphlets 
were  published  by  the  contending  parties,  of  which  not 
above  ten  or  twelve  appeared  widi  the  authors*  names* 
Some  of  these  are  supposed  to  have  been  funiiahed  by  Mr* 
Blackbunie.  One  singular  effect  followed  the  first  publi-*' 
catioQ  of  the  Confessional.  It  was  supposed  that  the  au^ 
thor  of  such  a  work  could  ndt  possibly  remain  in  the  church 
after  having  made  so  many,  objections  to  her  constitution  ; 
and  accordingly  a  congregation  of  dissenters  in  London 
sent  a  deputation  to  him,  to  know  whether  he  was  inclined 
to  accept  the  situation  of  their  pastor.  But  whatever  ob-^ 
jections  the  learned  archdeacon  had  to  certain  points  of 
discipline  and  doctrine  peculiar  to  the  church  of  England, 
which  be  wished  to  be  reformed ;  he  never  conceived  that 
the  best'way  to  bring  about  such  a  reformation  was  to  leave 
her  entirely  in  the  hands(  of  those  who  were  adverse  to  it ; 
and  therefore,  although  he  abstained  from  any  open  oppo«- 
sition  to  the  principles  and  conduct  of  Mr.  Lindsey  and 
Dn  Disney  (both  his  rekitions  and  friends)^  he  does  not 
appear  to  have  approved  either.  His  own  words,  however^ 
will  best  illustrate  his  sentiments  on  this  delicate  subject. 

^^  Mr.  Blackbume  had  his  objections  to  the  liturgy  and 
articles  of  the  church  of  England,  as  well  as  Mr.  Lindaey, 
and  in  some  instances  to  the  same  passages,  but  differed 
widely  from  him  on  some  particular  points,  which,  he 
thought,  :ks  stated  by  Mr.  Lindsey  and  his  friends,  could 
receive  rib' countenance  from  siaripture,  unless  by  a  licen- 
tiousness of  interpretation  that  could  not  be  j  ustified.  But 
Dr.  Priestley  and.  some  of  (bi$  .friends  having  carried,  the 
obligation  to  secede  fcom^theiphaich  of  England  ferther 

Y  2 


\ 


324       .  BLACKBITRNE. 

than  Mr.  Blackburne  thought  was  either  snfficiently  can« 
did^  charitable,  or  modest,  and  had  thereby  given  coun«- 
tenance  to  the  reproach,  thrown  upon  many  moderate  and 
worthy  .men,  by  hot  and  violent  conformists,  for  continu- 
ing to  minister  in  the  church,  while  they  disapproved  many 
tilings  in  her  doctrine  and  discipline,  he  tfaought.it  ex« 
pedient,  in  justice  to  himself  and  others  of  the  same  sen- 
timents, to  give  some  ^eck  to  the  crude  censures  that 
had  been  passed  upon  them.  And,  accordingly,  intending 
to  publish  '*  Four  Discourses'  delivered  to  the  clergy  of 
the  archdeaconry  of  Cleveland,  in  the  years  1767,  1769, 
1771,  and  1773,  he  took  that  opportunity  to  explain  him- 
self on  this  subject  in  a  preface,  as  well  on  behalf  of  the 
seceders,  as  .of  those  whose  Christian  principles  admitted 
of  dieir  remaining  in  the  church  without  offering  violence 
to  their  consciences.^' — Of  Dr.  Priestley's  conduct  he 
speaks  yet  more  decidedly  in  a  letter  dated  Jan.  4,  1770, 
to  a  dissenting  minister,-^''  I  cannot  think  the  dissenters 
will  be  universally  pleased  with  Dr.  Priestley's  account  of 
their  principles,  not  to  mention  that  some  degree  of  mercy 
seemed  to  be  due  to  us,  who  have  shown  our  benevolence 
to  all  protestant  dissenters,  and  have  occasionally  asserted 
their  rights  of  conscience  with  the  utmost  freedom.  But 
no,  it  seems  nothing  will  do  but  absolute  migration  from 
our  present  stations,  in  agreement  with  our  supposed  con* 
victions ;  though,  perhaps,  it  might  puzzle  Dr.  Priestley 
to  find  us  another  church,  in  which  all  of  us  would  be  at 
our  ease,  &c."  On  the  secession  of  Dr.  Disney  from  the 
church,  a  circumstance  which  appears  to  have  given  him 
great  uneasiness,  he  went  so  far  as  to  draw  up  a  paper  un-^ 
der  the  title  *^  An  Answer  to  the  Question,  Why  are  you 
not  a  Socinian?"  but  this,  although  now  added  to  his 
Works,  was  not  published  in  his  life-time,  from  motives  of 
^elicacj^.  He  had  been  suspected,  from  his  selationship 
and  intimacy  with  Mr.  Lindsey  and  Dr.  Disney,  of  holding 
the  same  sentiments  with  them,  and  his  object  in  the  above 
paper  was  to  vindicate  his  character  in  that  respect.  Still, 
as  it  did  not  appear  in  his  life-time,  it  could  not  answer 
that  purpose,  and  although  we  are  now  told  that  some  tia>e 
before  his  death,  he  explicitly  asserted  to  his  relation,  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Comber,  his  belief  in  the  divinity  of  Christ,  the 
suspicions  of  the  public  had  undoubtedly  some  foundation 
in  the  silence  which  in  all  his  writings  he  preserved  re- 
lipectihg  a  point  of  so  much  importance. 


BLACKBURN  R  S2« 

When  considerably  advanced  in  years,  he  formed  the 
design  of  writing  the  life  of  Luther ;  and  had  made  some 
collections  for  the  purpose,  but  was  diverted  from  it  by 
being  engaged  to  draw  up  a  work  of  far  less  general  in- 
terest, the  Memoirs  of  Mr.  Thomas  Hollis.  In  1787,  he 
performed  his  thirty-eighth  visitation  in  Cleveland,  after 
which  he  was  taken  ill  at  the  house  of  his  friend  the  Ilev« 
William  Comber,  but  reached  home  a  few  weeks  before 
his  death,  which  took  place  Aug.  7,  1787,  in  his  eighty* 
third  yean  Mr.  Blackburne  left  a  widow  (who  died  Aug. 
20,  1799),  and  four  childreo,  Jane,  married  to  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Disney  ;  the  Rev.  Francis  Blackburne,  vicar  of  Brig* 
nal,  near  Greta-bridge,  Yorkshire  ;  Sarah,  married  to  the 
Rev.  John  Hall,  vicar  of  Chew  Magna,  and  rector,  of  Dun* 
dry  in  Somersetshire ;  and  William  Blackburne,  M.  D.  of 
Cavendish  square,  London.  ' 

In  1804,  his  son,  the  Rev.  F.  Blackburne,  published  in 
7  vols.  8vo,  his  "  Works,  Theological  and  Miscellaneous, 
including  some  pieces  not  before  printed,^'  with  some  ac- 
count of  the  life  and  writings  of  the  author,  by  himself,  and 
completed  by  his  son.  At  the  conclusion  of  this  Interest- 
ing memoir,  we  find  a  character  of  Mr.  Blackburiie  drawn 
up  with  candour  and  affection.  From  this  we  shall  extract 
a  few  passages,  but  without  deciding  whether  in  every 
respect  the  same  conclusions  can  be  drawn  from  an  atten- 
tive consideration  of  his  labours  and  opinions.  It  is  certain 
that  some  of  his  admirers  have  wished  him  pQssessed  of 
more  steadiness  and  consistency  than  his  work3  show, 

**  Without  ever  taking  an  active  part  in  the  disputes 
which  in  his  time  agitated,  and  are  still  agitating,  the  church 
of  England,  on  the  article  of  predestination,  it  is  certain 
that  Mr.  Blackburne  was,  in  the  general  sentiments  of  his 
creed,  what  he  more  than  once  declared  ^imself  to  be,  a 
moderate  JJalvinist ;  and  his  writings  place  it  beyond  a^ 
doubt,  that  he  believed  himself  so  much  more  a  Protestant 
for  being  so,  His  Calvinism,  however,  was  of  the  largest ' 
and  most  liberal  cast^  This  will  be  easily  understood  upta 
what  he  thought  of  the  great  work  of  David  Hardey  on 
Man-i-*  a  book,'  writes  Mr.  Blackburne  to  a  friend,  in 
1750,  *  to  which,  if  I  am  not  exceedingly  mistaken,  Chris- 
tianity is,  or  will  be,  more  beholden  than  to  all  the  books 
besides  of  the  two  last  centuries.  But  he  has  joined  ne- 
cessity and  religion  together. — What  of  that  ?  Ask  the 
church  of  England  in  h^.  articles.'  « 


Mi6  B  L  AC  K  B  U  R  N  E. 

"  While  engaged  in  the  controversial  field,  and  main-' 
taining  what  be  believed  to  be  the  cause  of  truth  and  li- 
berty, Mr.  Blackburne,  like  his  admired  Luther,  pursued 
his  adversary  often  with  vehemence,  and  sometimes  with 
asperity  of  attack :  and  when  either  rank  or  eminence  in 
the  object  of  his  animadversions  was  likely  to  lend  a  sane-* 
tion  to  prejudice  and  supefstition^  or  to  give  an  imposing 
air  to  the  encroachments  of  human  authority  in  matters  of 
religion,  no  writer  ever  more  intrepidly  encountered  odium, 
by  exposing  error  and  bigotry  if  it  were  even  found,  where 
many  good  and  gentle  natures  will  hardly  allow  it  to  be 
looked  for,  under  the  lawn  and  the  mitre.  Yet,  doubtless, 
in  the  execution  of  so  critical  an  ofEce,  the  most  acute  and 
honest  judgment  might  at  times  faif  in  discernment,  or 
carry  severity  too  far.  To  say,  therefore,  that  Mr.  Black- 
bume  never  passed  an  unjust  censure,  or  harboured  an 
unworthy  dislike,  as  a  polemic,  would  be  to  suppose  that 
be  was  perfect  in  the  most  difficult  of  all  tasks — the  task  of 
inquiring  into  the  justness  of  argument,  the  integrity  of 
motives,  and  the  rectitude  of  conduct  of  other  men  like 
himself. 

*^  Of  all  this,  in  his  last  years,  especially  when  he  had 
retired  from  the  business  of  controversy,  and  looked  back 
on  the  scene  which  he  had  quitted  for  ever,  Mr.  Black- 
burne  was  duly  sensible ;  and  one  day,  a  few  weeks  before 
bis  death,  conversing  with  a  lady  then  resident  at  Rich- 
mond, one  of  the  most  amiable  and  excellent  of  her  sex, 
he  acknowledged,  with  great  earnestness,  that  some  things 
which  he  had  written  and  published  in  the  course  of  his 
life  he  was  afraid  might  have  been  too  warmly  or  too 
hastily  advanced.  Yet  no  scholar,  perhaps,  was  ever  more 
industrious  and  indefatigable  in  the  investigation  botbi  of 
facts  and  of  arguments,  or  less  precipitate  in  delivering 
his  researches  to  the  public,  than  archdeacon  Blackburne. 

♦*  Nor  did  mere  difference  of  opinion,  even  on  points  of 
the  highest  political  and  religious  consequence,  or  on  spe« 
eulativ^  topics,  where  years  of  study  had  endeared  con- 
yiction  to  him,  operate  as  a  bar  to  his  approbation  of  the 
merits  of  his  opponent ;  and  he  readily  acknowledged,  and 
admired,  literary  tplent  and  scriptural  knowledge,  or  clear 
and  able  enforcements  of  the  truths  and  obligations  of  re* 
ligion,  as  well  as  personal  virtue  and  eminent  piety,  in 
those  from  whom  otherwise  he  differed  widely,  and  whom^ 
Y^itk  UQ  little  ea^erness^  he  bad  sometimes  opposed, 


B  L  A  C  K  B  U  R  N  E-  327 

**  Mr.  Blackbiirne's  cordial  and  eloquent  compliment  to 
the  memory  of  Jortin,  to  whom,  besides  some  specific  dis- 
agreements, he  was  "nearly  as  dissimilar  in  , general  cha- 
racters as  Luther  to  Erasmus,  has  been  more  than  once  re- 
peated. His  amanuensis  testifies  the  genuine  satisfaction 
which  the  reading  of  Dr.  Johnson's  Prayers  and  Medita- 
tions appeared  to  afford  his  venerable  friend  ;  and  he  well 
remembers  with  what  delight  Mr.  Blackburne  listened  to 
the  sermons  of  bishop  Sherlock,  which  he  had  doubtless 
often  himself  perused  before  -;  and  with  what  frankness  of 
heart  he  wished  that  it  had  been  in  his  power  to  be  equally 
useful  as  a  preacher  of  the  doctrines  of  Christianity. 

"  Amidst  the  calls  of  his  public  station,  and  the  labours 
of  private  study,  during  the  most  active  stages  of  his  life, 
Mr.  Blackburne  had  been  always  constant  in  the  regular 
performance  of  family  devotion  and  of  solitary  prayer.   The 
contemplation  too  of  some  passage  in  the  Old  or  New  Tes- 
tament, with  the  comments  of  the  best  early  or  later  critics, 
tvas  not  forgotten  in  the  habitual  arrangement  of  his  fore- 
noon.    In  his  latter  days,  these  exercises  and  meditations, 
and  a  course  of  reading  congenial  to  them,  suited  parti- 
cularly well  with  the  sober  and  serious  cast  of  a  mind  like 
•his,  and  with  afflictions  fast  weaning    to  a  better  world* 
Towards  the  close  of  his  life,  retaining  strong  faculties  of 
'memory  and  intellect,  his  powers  of  cheerful  and  instruc- 
tive conversation  were  little  diminished  by  age;  or  what 
they  had  lost,  if  any  thing  they  had  lost,  in  vigour,  was 
abundantly  compensated  in  that  soft  mellowness  of  temper, 
'which,  like  the  mild  setting  sun  of  an  autumnal  evening, 
gilds  the  declining  day  of  a  wise  and  virtuous  old  man. 
'     **  Such  was  Francis  Blackburne  ;  a  believer  of  Chris- 
tianity, from  the  deepest  conviction  of  its  truth ;  a  Pro- 
testant on  the  genuine  principles  of  the  reformation  from 
popery;  a'fetrenuous  adversary  of  superstition  and  intole- 
rance, and  of  every  corruption  of  the  simplicity  or  the 
spirit  of  the  gospel ;  a  zealous  promoter  of  civil  liberty  j  a 
"close    and   perspicuous   reasoner ;  a  keen   and  energetic 
writer;  an  attentive,  benevolent,  and  venerable  archdea- 
con ;  an  elegant  and  persuasive  preacher;  a  faithful  pas- 
tor and  exemplary  guide;  of  unblemished  purity  of  life  ; 
of  simple  dignity  of  manners ;  a  sincere  and  cordial  friend  ; 
an  affectionate  husband,  and  an  indulgent  father  :  in  short, 
a*  just,  humane,  pious,  temperate,  and  independent  man.'** 

1  Life,  as  above,— «Nlchols*s  Bowyer;-^A  CJom|)lete  list  -of  the  pamphlets  oi^ 
the  Coofessionai  Controversy,  Id  Gent.  Majp.  vols.  XLl.  and  XLIU 


S!?8  B  L  A  C  K  B  U  R  N  E. 

BLACKBURNE  (John),  esq.  of  Orford,  near  Warring- 
ton in  Lancashire,  deserves  some  notice  in  a  work  of  this 
description,  as  a  promoter  of  science.     This  gentleman 
died  in  1786,  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-six,  ^e  re- 
ward of  a  very  regular  and  temperate  life,  and  a  mind  un« 
disturbed  by  any  violent  emotions.     His  health  and  tran- 
quillity were  also  not  a  little  promoted  by  the  turn  he  took 
in  early  life  to  the  cultivation  of  plants.     He  was  supposed 
to  be  the  second  gentleman  in  England  who  cultivated  the 
pine-apple,  and  bis  garden  always  continued  one  of  the 
chief  objects  of  botanical  curiosity  for  its  products  both 
foreign  and  domestic,  in  the  north  of  England.     Of  this  a 
catalogue  was  printed  by  his  gardener,  Mr.  Neal,  in  1779. 
He  retained  his  faculties  in  very  considerable  perfection 
till  within  two  or  three  years  before  his  death.     He  was 
exemplary  in  the  discharge  of  religious  duties,  and  la 
charity  to  the  poor.     His  daughter  Anna,  who  died,  ad- 
vanced in  years,  in  1794,  was  also  attached  to  scientifie 
pursuits,  particularly  natural  history,  of  which  she  formed 
a  viery  extensive  museum  at  her  seat  at  Fairfield  near  War- 
rington.    She  was  equally  fond  of  botany,   and  was  the 
friend  and  constant  correspondent  of  Linnseus  and  many 
other  celebrated  botanists  on  the  continent  and  at  home. 
A  plant  which  she  discovered,  Linnaeus  named  in  honour 
of  her,  Blackbumiana.     She  bequeathed  her  museum  to 
her  nephew  John  Blackburne,  esq.  M.  P.  for  Lancashire.  ^ 

BLACKLOCK  (Thomas),  ia  very  extraordinary  poet, 
was  bom  in  1721,  at  Annan  in  the  county  of  Dumfries,  in 
Scotland.     His  parents  were  natives  of  Cumberland,  of  the 
lowet  order,  but  industrious  and  well-informed.     Before 
he  was  six  months  old  he  lost  his  sight  by  the  small-pox, 
and  therefore,  as  to  all  purposes  of  memory  or  imagination, 
may  be  said  never  to  have  enjoyed  that  blessing.     His 
father  and  friends  endeavoured  to  lessen  the  calamity  by 
reading  to  him  those  books  which  might  convey  the  in« 
struction  suitable  to   infancy,  and  as  he  advanced,  they 
proceeded  to  others  which  he  appeared  to  relish  and  re- 
member, particularly  the  works  of  Spenser,  Milton,  Prior, 
Pope,  and  Addison.     And  such  was  the  kindness  which 
his  helpless  situation  and  gentle  temper  excited,  that  he 
was  seldom  without  some  companion  who  carried  on  this 
singular  course  of  education,  until  he  had  even  acquired 
tome  knowledge  of  the  Latin  tongue.     It  is  probable  that 

1  Gent  Mag.  vol.  LVII.  and  LXIV. 


B  L  A  C  K  L  O  C  K.  329 

he  remembered  much  of  all  that  was  read  to  him,  but  hig 
mind  began  very  early  to  make  a  choice.  He  first  disco* 
vered  a  predilection  for  English  poetry,  and  then,  at  the 
age  of  twelve,  endeavoured  to  imitate  it  in  various  at- 
tempts, one  of  which  is  preserved  in  his  works,  but  rather 
with  a  view  to  mark  the  commencement  than  the  perfec- 
tion of  bis  talent. 

In  this  manner  his  life  appears  to  have  passed  for  the  first 
nineteen  years,  at  the  end  of  which  he  had  the  misfortune 
to  lose  his  father,  who  was  killed  by  the  accidental  fall  of 
a  malt-kiln.     For  about  a  year  after  this,  he  continued  to 
live  at  home,  and  began  to  be  noticed  as  a  young  man  of 
genius  and  acquirements,  such  as  were  not  to  be  expected 
in  one  in  his  situation.     His  poems,  which  had  increased 
in  number  ias  he  grew  up,  were  now  handed  about  in  ma- 
nuscript, with  confidence  that  they  were  worthy  of  the 
attention  of  the  discerning,  and  some  of  them  having  been 
shewn  to  Dr.  Stevenson,  an  eminent  physician  of  £din« 
burgh,  he  formed  the  benevolent  design  of  removing  the 
author  to  that  city,  where  his  genius  might  be  improved 
by  a  regular  education.  He  came  accordingly  to  Edinburgh 
in  the  year  1741,  and  continued  his  studies  in  the  univer-r 
sity,  under  his  kind  patron,  till  the  year  1745.     In  1746  a 
volume  of  his  poems,  in  octavo,  was  published,  but  with 
what  effect  we   are  not  told.     The  rebellion,   however, 
which  then  raged  in  Scotland,  disturbed  arts  and  learning, 
and  our  author  returned  to  Dumfries,  where  he  found  an 
asylum  in  the  house  of  Mr.  M*Murdo,  who  had  married 
his  sister,  and  who,  by  company  and  conversation,  en- 
deavoured to  amuse  his  solitude,  and  keep  up  his  stock  of 
learning.     At  the  close  of  the  rebellion  he  returned  to 
Edinburgh,  and  pursued  his  studies  for  six  years  longer. 

He  now  obtained  the  acquaintance  of  Hume,  the  cele- 
brated historiai),  who  interested  himself  with  great  zeal  in 
his  behalf,  and  among  oth^r  services,  promoted  the  pub- 
lication of  the  quarto  edition  of  his  poems  in  1756.;  but 
previously  to  this  a  second  edition  of  the  octavo  had  been 
published  at  Edinburgh  in  1754.  In  this  last  mentioned 
year  he  became  known  to  the  Rev.  Joseph  Spence,  poetry 
professor  of  Oxford,  who  introduced  him  to  the  English 
public  by  "  An  Account  of  the  Life,  Character,  and  Poems 
of  Mr.  Blacklock,  student  of  philosophy  in  the  university 
of  Edinburgh."  In  this  pamphlet  Mr.  Spence  detailed  the 
extraordinary  circiimistances  of  his  education  and  genius 


330  B  L  A  C  K  L  O  C  K. 

with  eqaal  taste  and  humanity,  and  a  subscription  was  iai« 
mediately  opened  at  Dodsley's  shop  for  a  quarto  edition, 
to  be  published  at  a  guinea  the  large^  and  half  a  guinea 
the  small  paper. 

Having  completed  his  education  at  the  university,  he 
began  a  course  of  study,  with  a  view  to  give  lectures  on 
oratory  to  young  gentlemen  intended  for  the  bar  or  the 
pulpit,  but  by  Hume's  advice  he  desisted  from  a  project 
which  the  latter  thought  unlikely  to  succeed,  and  deter- 
mined to  study  divinity,  which  promised  to  gratify  and 
enlarge  the  pious  feelings  and  sentiments  that  had  grown 
up  with  him.  Accordingly,  after  the  usual  probationary 
course,  he  was  licensed  a  preacher  of  the  gospel,  agree- 
ably to  the  rules  of  the  church  of  Scotland,  in  1759.  In 
this  character  he  attained  considerable  reputation,  and 
was  fond  of  composing  sermons,  of  which  he  has  left  some 
volumes  in  manuscript,  and  a  treatise  of  morals,  both  of 
which  his  friends  once  intended  for  the  press.  Two  occa- 
sional sermons  are  said  to  have  been  published  in  his  life- 
time, but  {Irobably  never  reached  this  country,  as  no  no- 
tice of  them  occurs  in  our  literary  journals. 

His  occupations  and  disposition  at  this  period  of  his  life 
are  thus  related  by  the  rev.  Mr.  Jameson,  of  Newcastle, 
who  knew  him  intipiately. 

^'  His  manner  of  life  (says  that  gentleman)  was  so  uni- 
form, that  the  history  of  it  during  one  day,  or  one  week,  is 
the  history  of  it  during  the  seven  years  that  bur  personal 
intercourse  lasted.  Reading,  music,  walking,  conversing, 
and  disputing  on  various  topics,  in  theology,  ethics,  &c* 
employed  almost  every  hour  of  our  time.  It  was  pleasant 
to  hear  him  engaged  in  a  dispute,  for  no  man  could  keep  his 
temper  better  than  he  always  did  on  such  occasions.  I  have 
known  hinl  frequently  very  warmly  engaged  for  hours  to* 
^ether,  but  never  could  observe  one  angry  word  to  fall 
from  him.  Whatever  his  antagonist  might  say,  he  always 
kept  his  temper.  *  Semper  paratus  et  refellere  sine  perti- 
nacia,  et  refelli  sine  iracundia,*  He  was,  however,  ex- 
tremely sensible  to  what  he  thought  ill  usage,  and  equally 
so  whether  it  regarded  himself  or  his  friends.  But  his  re-;- 
Sentment  was  always  confined  to  a  few  satirical  verses, 
which  wfere  generally  burnt  soon  after,'* 

"  The  late  Mr.  Spence  (the  editor  of  the  quarto  edition 
of  his  poems)  frequently  urged  him  to  write  a  tragedy ;  and 
Assured  him  that  he  had  interest  enough  with  JVlrV  GafricI^ 


B  L  AC  K  L  O  C  K.  831 

to  get  it  acted.  Various  subjects  were  proposed  to  him, 
several  of  which  he  approved  of,  yet  he  never  could  be 
prevailed  on  to  begin  anything  of  that  kind^.  It  may 
seem  remarkable,  but  as  far  as  I  know,  it  was  invariably 
the  case,  that  he  never  could  think  or  write  on  any  subject 
proposed  to  him  by  anot;her. 

"I  have  frequently  admired  with  what  readiness  and 
rapidity  he  could  sometimes  make  verses.  I  have  known 
him  dictate  from  thirty  to  forty  verses,  and  by  no  means 
bad  ones,  as  fast  as  I  could  write  them  ;  but  the  moment 
he  was  at  a  loss  for  a  rhyme  or  a  verse  to  his  liking,  he 
stopt  altogether,  and  could  very  seldom  be  induced  to 
finish  what  he  had  begun  with  so  much  ardour." 
.  To  this  his  elegant  biographer  adds  :  ^^  Ail  those 
who  ever  acted  as  his  amanuenses,  agree  in  this  rapidity 
and  ardour  of  composition  which  Mr.  Jameson  ascribes  to 
him  in  the  account  I  have  copied  above.  He  never  could 
dictate  till  h^  stood  up ;  and  as  his  blindness  made  ^yalking 
about  without  assistance  inconvenient  or  dangerous  to  him;, 
he  fell  insensibly  into  a  vibratory  sort  of  motion  of  his  body, 
which  increased  as  he  warmed  with  his  subject,  and  was' 
pleased  with  the  conceptions  of  his  mind.  This  motion  at 
last  became  habitual  to  him,  and  though  he  could  some- 
times restrain  it  when  on  ceremony,  or  in  any  public  ap- 
pearance, such  as  preaching,  he  felt  a  certain  uneasiness 
from  the  effort,  and  always  returned  to  it  when  he  could 
indulge  it  without  impropriety." 

In  1762,  he  married  miss  Sarah  Johnston,  daughter  of 
Mr.  Joseph  Johnston,  surgeon  in  Dumfries,  a  connexion 
which  formed  the  great  solace  of  his  future  life.  About 
the  same  time  he  was  ordained  minister  of  the  town  and 
parish  of  Kircudbright,  in  consequence  of  a  presentation 
from  the  crown,  obtained  for  him  by  the  earl  of  Selkirk  ; 
butfbe  parishioners  having  objected  to  the  appointment, 
fifter  a  l^gal  disj^iute  of  nearly  two  years,  his  friends  advised 
him  to  resign  bis  ngbt,  and  accept  of  a  moderate  annuity 
in  its  stead.  If  their  principal  objection  was  to  his  want 
of  sight,  it  was  certainly  not  unreasonable.  He  would  pro- 
bably in  the  course  of  a  few  years  have  found  it  very  in- 

^  Mr.  Jameson  was  probably  igpo*  eaqnot  recollect.    The  manuscript  was 

raot  of  the  circumstance  of  his  writing,  put  into  the  hands   of  the-  late   Mr. 

pt  a  Bjibsequent  period,  a  tragedy ;  Crosbie,  then  an  eminent  advocate  at 

bmt  upon  what  subject,  bis  relation,  thebar  of  ScotUnd,  but  has  never  sioco 

fiQff^  whoqd  I  received  the  intelli|(ence|  been  recovered.    Mackemzx^. 


ZS9  B  L  A  C  K  L  O  C  IC 

convenient,  if  not  painful,  to  execute  all  the  duties  of  the 
pastoral  6ffice.  With  the  slender  provision  allowed  by  thii^ 
parish,  he  returned  to  Edinburgh  in  1764,  and  adopted  the 
plan  of  receiving  a  limited  number  of  young  gentlemen 
into  his  house,  not  only  as  boarders,  but  as  pupils  whose 
studies  be  might  occasionally  assist.  And  this  plan  sue* 
ceeded  so  well  that  he  continued  it  till  17 87,  when  age 
and  infirmity  obliged  him  to  retire  from  active  life.  In 
1767,  the  degree  of  D.  D.  was  conferred  upon  him  by  the 
university  and  M;arischal  college  of  Aberdeen,  doubtless 
at  the  suggestion  of  his  friend  and  correspondent.  Dr. 
Beattie,  to  whom  he  had  in  the  preceding  year  sent  a  pre- 
sent of  his  works,  accompanied  by  some  verses.  Dn 
Beattie  returned  a  poetical  epistle,  which  is  now  prefixed 
to  Blacklock's  poems,  and  ever  after  maintained  a  corre-^ 
spondence  with  him,  and  consulted  him  upon  all  his  sub« 
sequent  works,  particularly  bis  celebrated  ^^  Essay  on 
Truth;*  > 

In  the  same  year,  he  published  ^'  Paraclesis;  or  conso«< 
lations  deduced  from  natural  and  revealed  Religion:   in 
two  dissertations ;  the  first,  supposed  to  have  been  com^ 
posed  by  Cicero ;    now  rendered  into  English :  the  last 
originally  written  by  Dr.  Blacklock.''     The  plan  of  the 
original  dissertation  is  to  prove  the  superiority  of  the  con- 
solations to  be  derived  from  the  Christian  revelation  ;  but 
it  is  painful  to  find  by  his  preface  that  his  motive  for  wri- 
ting it,  was'  ^^  to  alleviate  the  pressure  of  repeated  disap- 
pointments ;  to  sooth  his  anguish  for  the  loss  of  departed 
friends,  to  elude  the  rage  of  implacable  and  unprovoked 
f  ncmies ;  in  a  word,  to  support  his  own  mind,  which,  for  a 
pumber  of  years,  besides  its  literary  difficulties,  and  its 
patural  dis^dvantsiges,  had  maintained  an  incessant  conflict 
^ith  fortune.^'     Of  what  nature  his  disappointments  were, 
or  who  could  be  implacable  enemies  to  such  a  man,  m#  are 
l^ot  told.    His  biographer,  indeed,  informs  us  that  he  *'  had 
from  nature  a  constitution  delicate  and  nervous,  and  his 
ixiind,  as  is  almost  always  the  case,  was  in  a  gre^t  degree 
subject  to  the  indisposition^  of  his  body.     He  frequently 
complained  of  a  lowness  and  depression  of  spirits,  which 
neither  the  attentions  of  bis  firiends,  nor  the  unceasing  care 
~pf  a  most  affectionate  wife,  were  able  entirely  to  remove.'* 
j^et  us  bop^,  therefore,  for  the  honour  of  mankind,  that 
his  complaints,  were  those,  not  of  a  man  who  had  enehiies^ 
but  of  one  who  was  sensible  that,  with  strong  powers  of 


B  L  A  C  K  L  O  C  K.  S3S 

wiind,  and  well-<*foiinded  consolations,  he  was  yet  excluded 
from  many  of  the  rational  delights  of  which  he  heard  others^ 
«peak,  and  of  which,  if  he  formed  any  idea,  it  was  pro- 
bably disproportionate  and  distressing. 

In  1763  he  published  a  translation,  from  the  French  of 
the  rev.  James  Armand,  minister  of  the  Walloon  church  in 
Hanau,  of  two  discourses  on  the  spirit  and  evidences  of 
Christianity,  with  a  long  dedication  from  his  own  pen,  cal« 
culated  for  the  perusal  of  the  clergy  of  the  church  of  Scotf 
kad.  In  this,  as  in  all  his  prose  writings,  his  style  is  ele-- 
gant,  nervous,  and  animated,  and  his  sentiments  such  as 
indioate  the  purest  zeal  for  the  interests  of  religion.  His 
last  publication,  in  1774,  was  '^  The  Graham,  an  heroic 
ballad ;  in  four  cantos,''  intended  to  promote  harmony  be- 
tween the  inhabitants  of  Scotland  and  England.  As  a 
poem,  however,  it  added  little  to  his  reputation,  and  has 
been  excluded  from  the  collection  of  his  works  formed  by 
Mr.  Mackenzie,  and  adopted  in  the  late  edition  of  th^ 
English  poets, 

.  In  1791  he  was  seized  with  a  feverish  disorder,  which 
at  first  seemed  of  a  slight,  and  never  rose  to  a  very  violent 
kind ;  but  his  weak  frame  was  unable  to  support  it,  and  lie 
died  after  about  a  week's  illness,  July  7,  1791,  in  the 
seventieth  year  of  his  age.  A  monument  was  afterwards 
erected  to  his  memory,  with  an  elegant  Latin  inscription 
from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Seattle. 

Such  are  the  few  events  of  Dr.  Blacklock's  life.  His 
character,  and  the  character  of  his  writings,  are  more  inte*- 
resting,  and  will  probably  ever  continue  to  be  the  subject 
of  contemplation  with  all  who  study  the  human  mind,  or 
revere  the  dispensations  of  Providence.  His  perseverance 
in  acquiring  so  extensive  a  fund  of  learning,  amidst  those 
privations  ^hich  seem  to  barr  all  access  to  improvement, 
16  an  extraoi^inary  feature  in  his  character,  and  notwith* 
standing  the  kind  zed  of  the  friends  who  endeavoured  to 
make  tkp  for  his  want  of  siglit  by  reading  to  him,  many  of 
his  attainment  must  ever  remain  inexplicable. 
.  With  respect  to  his  personal  character,  his  biographer, 
i^nd  indeed  all  who*  knew  him,  have  expatiated  on  the 
gentleness  of  his  manners,  the  benignity  of  his  disposition, 
and  that  warm  interest  in  the  happiness  of  others  which 
led  him  so'  constantly  to  promote  it  in  the  young  people 
who  were  Committed  to  his  charge.  In  their  society  he 
appeared  entirely  to  forget  the  loss  of  sight,  and  the  me^ 


SH  B  L  A  C  K  L  O  C  K. 

lancholy  which,  at  other  times^  it  might  produce.  ^^  lie 
entered/'  says  his  biographer,  '^  with  the  cheerful  playful^ 
ness  of  a  young  man,  into  all  the  sprightly  narrative^ 
the  sportive  fancy,  the  humorous  jest  that  rose  around  him. 
It  was  a  sirght  highly  gratifying  to  philanthropy,  to  see  how 
much  a  mind  endowed  with  knowledge,  kindled  by  genius^ 
and  above  all,  lighted  up  with  innocence  and  piety,  like 
Blacklock's,  could  overcome  the  weight  of  its  own  calamity, 
and  enjoy  the  content,  the  happiness,  and  the  gaiety  of 
others.  Several  of  those  inmates' of  Dr.  Blacklock's  house 
retained,  in  future  life,  all  the  warmth  of  that  impression, 
which  his  friendship  at  this  early  period  had  made  upon 
them ;  and  in  various  quarters  of  the  world  he  had  &iend» 
and  correspondents  from  whom  no  length  of  time  or  dis-* 
tance  of  place  had  ever  estranged  him. 

*^  Music,  which  tp  the  feeling  and  the  pensive,  in  what-* 
ever  situation,  is  a  source  of  extreme  delight,  but  which  to 
the  blind  must  be  creative,  as  it  were,  of  idea  and  of  sen- 
timent, he  enjoyed  highly,  and  was  himself  a  tolerable  per- 
former on  several  instruments,  particularly  on  the  flute. 
He  generally  carried  in  his  pocket  a  small  flageolet  *,  oa 
which  he  played  his  favourite  tunes  ;  and  was  not  displeased 
Avhen  asked  in  company  to  play  or  to  sing  them.;  a  natural 
feeling  for  a  blind  man,  who  thu^  adds  a  scene  to  the 
drama  of  his  society."  .  * 

With  regard  to  his  poetry,  there  seems  no.  occasion  ta 
involve  ourselves:  in  the  perplexities  which  Mr.  Spcnce  first 
created,  and  then  injudiciously -as  well  as  ineffectually  en- 
deavoured to  explain.  The  character  of  his  poetry  is  that 
of  sentiment  and  reason  ;  his  versification  is  in  general  ele- 
gant and  harmonious,  and  bis  thoughts  sometimes  flow 
with  an  ardent  rapidity  that  betokens  real  genius.  But  it 
is. impossible  to  ascribe  powers  of  description  to  one  who 
liad  seen  nothing  to  describe  ;  nor  of  ii^vention  to  one  who 
had  no  materials  upon  which  he  could  operate.  Where 
we  find  any  passages  that  a{>proach  to  the  de^ription  of 
visible  objects,  we  must  surely  attribute  them  to  memory. 
As  he  had  the  best  English  poets  ff€quently  jcead  to  him, 
be  attained  a  free  command  of  the  language  of  poetry, 

*  "  His  first  idea  of  learning  to  play  a  dfeam,  ii)  which  he  thought  he  met 

oo  this  instrunent  he  used  to  ascribe  with  a  shepherd's  boy  on  the  side  of  a 

to  a  circamstance,  rather  upcommoo,  pastotal  hill,  who  biougldt  the  moifc 

but  which,  to  a  mind  like  his,  suscep-  exquisite  music  from  that  littli^  instfii* 

tible  at  the  same  time  and  creatiTe,  meat''    Mackenzie.' 

might  oaturally  «nQogh  ans««  namely,  \' 


BLACKLOCiq-  S35 

both  in  simple  and  compound  words,  and  we  know  that 
all  poets  consider  those  as  common  property.  It  is  not, 
therefore,  wonderful,  that  he  speaks  so  often  of  mounts^ins, 
valleys,  rivers,  nor  that  he  appropriates  tp  visible  objects  their 
peculiar  characteristics,  all  which  he  must  have  heard  re- 
peated until  they  became  fixed  in  his  memory  ;  but  as  no. 
man  pursues  long  what  affords  little  more  than  the  exer- 
cise of  conjecture,  we  are  still  perplexed  to  discover  what 
pleasure  Mr.  Blacklock  could  take,  first  in  a  specifes  of 
reading  which  could  give  him  no  ideas,,  and  then  in  a 
species  of  writing  in  which  he  could  copy  only  the  ex- 
pressions of  others.  He  has  himself  written  a  very  long 
article  on  blindness  in  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  but 
it  affords  no  light  to  the  present  subject,  containing  chiefly 
reflections  on  the  disadvantages  of  blindness,  and  the  best, 
means  of  alleviating  them.  His  poems,  however,  espe- 
.  cially  where  attempts  are  made  at  description,  indicate, 
powers  which  seem  to  have  wanted  the  aid  of  sight  only  to 
bring  them  into  the  highest  rank.  We  know  that  poetical 
genius  is  almost  wholly  independent  of  learning,  and  seems 
often  planted  in  a  soil  where  nothing  else  will  flourish; 
but  Blacklock's  is  altogether  an-  extraordinary  case  :  we. 
have  not  even  terms  by  which  we  can  intelligibly  dis- 
cuss his  merits,  and  we  may  conclude  with  Denina  in  his 
Dtscorso  deUa  Literatura,  that  Blacklock  will  appear  to 
posterity  a  fable,  as  to  us  he  is  a  prodigy.  It  will  be 
thought  a  fiction,  a  paradox,  that  a  man  blind  from  his 
infancy,  besides  having  made  himself  so  much  a  master 
of  various  foreign  languages,  should  be  a  great  poet  in 
his  own ;  and  without  having  hardly  ever  seen  the  light, 
should  be  so  remarkably  happy  in  description.  • 

BLACKMORE  (Sir  Richard),  physician  to  king  Wil- 
liam III.  and  queen  Anne,  and  a  very  voluminous  writer, 
was  son  of  Mr.  Robert  Blackjnore,  an  attorney  at  law.  He 
received  the  first  part  gf  his  education  at  a  country  school, 
from  whence  he. was  removed  to  Westminster  in  the  thirteenth 
year  of  his  age.  He  was  afterwards  sent  to  St.  Edmund's- 
hall,  in  the  university  of  Oxford,  where  he  continued 
thirteen  years.  He  is  said  to  have  been  engaged  for  some 
time  in  the  profession  of  a  school -master ;  but  it  is  pro- 
bable he  did  not  long  continue  in  that  situation  ;  and,  says 
^r*  Johnson,  to  have  been  once  a  schoolmaster,  is  tl>e 

'     '  English  Poeti,  edit.  1810,  vol.  XVIIL 


S36  p  L  A  C  K  M  a  R  E. 

only  reproach  which  all  the  perspicacity  of  malice,  animated 
by  wit,  has  ever  fixed  upon  his  private  life.     It  appears 
that  he  travelled  afterwards  into  Italy,  and  took  the  de- 
gree of  doctor  in  physic,  at  the  university  of  Padua.     He 
also  visited  France,   Germany,  and  the  Low  Countries, 
and  having  spent  about  a  year  and  a  half  abroad,  he  re« 
turned  again  to  England.     On  his  arrival  in  London,  he 
engaged  in  the  practice  of  physic  there,  and  was  chosdh 
fellow  of  the  royal  college  of  physicians.     He  early  dis- 
covered his  attachment  to  the  principles  of  the  revolution  ; 
and  this  circumstance,  together  with  the  eminence  which 
he  bad  attained  in  his  profession,  recommended  him  to 
the  notice  and  favour  of  king  William.     Accordingly,  ia 
1697,  he  was  appointed  one  of  his  majesty's  physicians  in 
ordinary ;  he  had  also  a  gold  medal  and  chain  bestowed 
on  him  by  that  prince,  and  received  from   him  the  ho* 
Hour  of  knighthood.     Upon  the  king's  death,  he  was  one 
of  the  physicians  Who  gave  their  opinions  at  the  opening 
of  his  majesty's  body.     When  queen  Anne  ascended  the 
throne,  he  was  appointed  one  of  h^r  physicians,  and  con- 
tinued in  that  station  for  some  time.     Sir  Richaird  Black- 
more  was  the  author  of  a  variety  of  pieces  both  in  prose 
and  verse ;   and    the  generality  of  bis   productions  had? 
many  admirers  in  his  own  time  ;    for  the  third   edition 
of  his  "  Prince  Arthur,  an   heroic  poem  in  ten  books," 
was  published  in  1696,  fol.     The  following  year  he  also 
published  in  folio  "  King  Arthur,  an  heroic  poem,  in  twelve 
books.**     In  1700  he  published  in  folio,  in  verse,  **  A  Pa- 
raphrase on  the  book  of  Job  ;  as  likewise  on  the  songs  of 
Moses,   Deborah,    David ;   on  four  select  Psalms ;    some 
chapters  of  Isaiah ;  and  the  third  chapter  of  Habbakuk.** 
He  appears  to  have  been  naturally  of  a  very  serious  turn, 
and  therefore  took  great  offence  at  the  licentious  and  im- 
moral tendency  of  many  of  the  productions  of  his  contem- 
porary authors.     To  pass  a  censure  upon^ese  was  the 
design  of  his  poem,    entitled  "  A  Satire  upon  Wit,"  or 
rather  the  abuse  of  it,  which  was  first  published  in  1700. 
But  this  piece  was  attacked  and  ridiculed  by  many  dif- 
ferent writers,  and  there  seemed  to  be  a  kind  of  confe- 
deracy of  the  wits  against  him.     How  much,  however, 
they  felt  his  reproof,^  appears  from  the  following  circum- 
stance.    In  Tom  Brown's  works /are  upwards  of  twenty 
different  satirical  pieces  in  verse  against  Blackmore,  said 
to  be  written  by  colonel  Codrington,  sir  Charles  Sedley^ 


B  L  A  C  K  M  O  R  E.  337 

colonel  Blount,  sir  Samuel  Garth,  sir  Bichard  Steele,  Dr. 
Smith,  Mr.  William  Burnaby,  the  earl  of  Anglesea,  the 
countess  of  Sandwich,  Mr.  Manning,  Mr.  Mildmay,  Dr. 
Drake,  colonel  Johnson,  Mr.  Richard  Norton,  &,c.  and 
mgst  of  these  pieces  are  particularly  levelled  at  our  au- 
thor's **  Satire  upon  Wit,"  One  topic  of  abuse  against 
Blackmore  was,  that  he  lived  in  Cheapside.  He  was 
sometimes  called  the  "  Cheapside  Knight,"  and  the  **  City 
Bard;"  and  Garth's  verses,  in  the  collection  just  cited^ 
are  addressed  ^^  to  the  merry  Poetaster  at  Sadlers  Hall  ii^ 
Cheapside."  In  Cibber's  lives  we  are  also  told,  that  "  sir 
Richard  had,  by  the  freedom  of  his  censures  on  the  liber«' 
tine  writers  of  his  age,  incurred  the  heavy  displeasure  of 
Dryden,  who  takes  all  opportunities  to  ridicule  him,  and 
somewhere  says,  that  he  wrote  to  the  rumbling  of  his 
chariot-wheels.  And  as  if  to  be  at  enmity  with  Black^more 
had  been  hereditary  to  our  greatest  poets,  we  find  Mr. 
Pope  taking  up  the  quarrel  where  Dryden  left  it,  and  per- 
secuting this  worthy  man  with  yet  a  severer  degree  qf 
satire.  .  Blackmore  had  been  informed  by  Curl,  that  Mr. 
Pope  was  the  author  of  a  Travestie  on  the  ifirst  Psalm^ 
which  he  takes  occasion  to  reprehend  in  his  ^  Essay  on  Po- 
lite Learning,'  vol.  IL  p.  270.  He  ever  considered  it  as 
the  disgrace  of  genius,  that  it  should  be  employed  to  burr 
lesque  any  of  the  sacred  compositions,  which,  as  they 
speak  the  language  of  inspiration,  tend  to  awaken  the  soul 
to  virtue,  and  inspire  it  with  a  sublime  devotion." 

On  the  16th  of  November  1713,  he  began  a  paper, 
printed  three  times  a  week,  called  the  "  Lay  Monk.'* 
Only  forty  numbers  of  it  were  published,  which,  in  1714, 
were  collected  into  a  volume,  under  the  tide  of  the  "Lay 
Monastery."  The  Friday's  papers  in  this  collection  were 
written  by  Hughes,  and  the  rest  by  sir  Richard.  In  a  let* 
ter  to  Mr.  Hughes,  he  declared  that  he  was  not  deter- 
mined to  the  undertaking  by  a  desire  of  fame  or  profit, 
but  from  a  regard  to  the  public  good.  In  1716,  he  pub- 
lished in  2  vols.  8v0,  "  Essays  upon  several  subjects,"  and 
in  1718,  "A  collection  of  poems,"  in  1  vol.  8vo.  But  the 
work  which  procured  him  the  greatest  reputation,  was  his 
'^  Creation,  a  philosophical  poem,-  demonstrating  the  Ex- 
istence and  Providence  of  a  God,  in  seven  books."  This 
passed  through  several  editions,  and  was  greatly  applauded 
by  Mr.  Addison.  Mr.  Locke  also  formed  a  very  favour- 
j^ble  opinion  of  sir  Richard  Blackpctore  ^  although  perhaps  hp 

Vol.  V.  Z 


S38  B  L  A  C  K  M  O  R  B;. 

estimated  his  poetical  talents  too  highly.  In  1 7^1,  onr  author 
published  in  12mo,  **  A  new  version  of  the  Psalms  of 
David,  fitted  to  the  tunes  used  in  churches.'*  This  was 
recommended  by  public  authority,  as  proper  to  be  used  in 
the  churches  and  chapels  of  England,  but  it  does  not  ap- 
pear to  have  been  generally  adopted.  Towards  the  close 
of  his  life,  his  practice  as  a  physician  is  said  to  hare  de-< 
clined  ;  which  might  probably  arise  from  the  numerous 
attempts  which  were  made  to  lessen  his  reputation.  He 
died  on  the  &th  Of  October,  1729,  in  an  advanced  age; 
and  manifested  in  bis  last  illness  the  same  fervent  piety, 
which  had  distinguished  htm  in  his  life.  He  was  certainly 
a  man  of  considerable  learning  and  abilities,  and  a  most 
zealous  advocate  for  the  interests  of  religion  and  virtue. 
He  wrote,  indeed,  too  much,  and  was  deficient  in  point 
of  taste ;  nor  did  he  take  sufiicient  time  to  polish  his  com- 
positions. But  he  was  far  from  being  destitute  of  genius; 
and  it  is  sufficiently  manifest,  that  it  was  not  his  dullness, 
"which  excited  so  much  animosity  against  him.  Hardly  any 
author  has  ever  been  more  satirized  than  sir  Richard  Black- 
more,  and  yet,  so  far  as  we  can  judge  from  his  writings^ 
there  have  been  few,  perhaps  none,  who  have  had  better 
intentions.  He  had  very  just  ideas  of  the  true  ends  of 
MTiting ;  and  it  would  have  been  happy  for  the  world,  if 
such  ideas  had  been  adopted  by,  and  really  influenced, 
authors  of  more  brilliant  genius.  And  though  his  historical 
and  epic  poems  exposed  him  to  some  degree  of  ridicule, 
j^et  he  was  far  from  being  a  proper  object  of  the  extreme 
contempt  with  which  he  was  treated.  The  merit  of  bis 
poem  on  Creation,  and  the  excellency  of  his  life,  might 
have  procured  him  better  usage.  And  whatever  wer^ 
the  defects  of  his  com|)Ositions,  he  was  justly  entitled  to 
commendation  for  the  morality  of  their  tendency.  He 
who  labours  to  reform  mankind  is  more  deserving  of  our 
esteem,  than  he  who  would  corrupt  them,  whatever  may 
i)e  the  powers  of  genius  possessed  by  the  latter,  or  what- 
ever reputation  his  wit  may  have  procured  him.  The 
fashion  of  the  times,  or  the  mutual  jealousies  and  animosi- 
ties of  contemporary  wits  and  authors,  often  occasion  great 
injustice  to  be  done  to  worthy  men  and  useful  writers. 
But  time  will,  generally,  in  a  great  degree,  remove  suck 
prejudices  ;  and  those  who  form  an  impartial^  estimate  of 
the  character  and  various  productions  of  Blackmore,  wiH 
acknowledge,  that  as  a  writer,  with  all  bis  faults,  be  had 


B  L  A  C  K  M  O  R  E.  33d 

totisiderable  merit ;  that  as  a  man,  he  was  justly  entitled 
to  great  applause.  For,  numerous  as  bis  enemies  and  op- 
ponents were,  they  seem  to  have  been  incapable  of  fixing 
the  least  imputation  upon  his  character ;  and  those  who 
personally  knew  him  spoke  highly  of  his  virtues.  We 
think  it  an  act  of  justice  to  endeavour  to  remove  from  a 
worthy  man  some  part  of  that  load  of  obloquy  with  which 
bis  memory  has  been  overwhelmed.  To  this  character, 
from  the  Biog.  Britannica,  we  may  add,  that  Dr.  Johnson 
has  increased  the  number  of  those  liberal-minded  men 
who  have  endeavoured  to  rescue  sir  Richard  Blackmore's 
name  from  the  contempt  with  which  it  has  been  treated, 
and  to  do  justice  to  his  abilities  as  well  as  his  virtues* 
To.  his  "  Creation"  the  doctor  has  given  high  praise, 
and  has  drawn  the  character  of  it  with  singular  precision 
and  elegance.  From  the  inaccuracy  with  which  Black- 
more  in  his  poems  has  pronounced  the  ancient  names 
of  nations  or  places,  Dr.  Johnson  has  inferred,  that  the 
thirteen  years. he  spent  at  the  university,  seem  to  have 
passed  with  very  little  attention  to  the  business  of  the 
place.  A  strong  testimony,  however,  to  his  diligence 
whilst  at  Edmund-hall,  has  lately  been  produced  in  the 
Gentleman's  Magazine,  from  Turner's  "  Book  of  Provi- 
dence." *^  Dr.  Richard  Blackmore,"  says  Turner,  "  my 
contemporary  and  colleague  (fellow  collegian)  at  Oxon, 
now  Jiving,  and  one  of  the  college  in  London,  was,  in  his 
first  years,  one  of  the  most  eager  and  diligent  students  I 
ever  knew ;  sitting  up  at  his  book  till  twelve,  one,  two, 
and  sometimes  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  theii 
lying  down  only  upon  his  chairs  till  prayer -time,  till  his 
health  broke,  and  he  was  constrained  by  necessity  to  re- 
tire into  the  country,  to  repair  himself  by  physic." 

Besides  the  works  mentioned  in  this  account  of  his  life, 
sir  Richard  wrote :  1.  "  Eliza,  a  poem  in  ten  books,." 
1705,  folio.  2.  "The  Redeemer,  a  poem  in  six  books,'* 
1721,  8vo.  3.  "King  Alfred,  in  twelve  books,"  1723, 
8vo.  4,  "  History  of  the  Conspiracy  against  king  WiU 
liam  the  Third,"  1723,  8vo.  5.  "  A  discourse  on  the 
Plague,  with  a  preparatory  account  of  malignant  fevers, 
in  two  parts ;.  containing  an  explication  of  the  nature  of 
those  diseases,  and  the  methods  of  cure,"  1720,  8 vo. 
6.  "  A  treatise  on  the  Small-pox,  in  two  parts  \  and  a 
dissertation  upon  the  modern  practice  of  Inoculation," 
!722,  8vo.  7.  "A  treatise  on  Consumptions  and  other 
distempers  belonging  to  the  breast  and  lungs,"  1724,  8vo.. 

z  2 


'340  B  L  A  C  K  M  O  It  E. 

• 

8.  "  A  treatise  on  the  Spleen  and  Vapours,  or  hypbcbotl^ 
-driacal  and  hysterical  affections ;  with  three  discourses  oti 
the  nature  and  cure  of  the  Cbolic,  Melancholy,  and  Palsy,*' 
1725,  8vo.  9.  **  A  critical  dissertation  upon  the  Spleen,** 
1725.  10.  '^Discourses  on  the  Gout,  Rheumatism,  and 
the  King's  Evil,"  1726,  8vo.  11.  "  Dissertations  on  a 
Di*opsy,  a  Tympany,  the  Jaundice,  the  Stone,  and  the 
Diabetes,"  1727,  Svo.  12.  "  Just  prejudices  against  the 
Arian  hypothesis,"  1725,  Svo.  13.  "  Modern  Arians  un- 
masked," 1721,  Svo.  14.  "  Natural  Theology,  or  moral 
Duties  considered  apart  from  positive  :  with  some  ob- 
^rvations  on  the  desirableness  and  necessity  of  a  super* 
^;Uural  revelation,"  1728,  Svo.  15.  "  The  accomplished 
Preacher;  or,  an  essay  upon  divine  eloquence,"  1731, 
^vo.  This  last  piece  was  published  after  the  author's 
death,  in  pursuance  of  his  express  order,  by  the  rev.  Mr. 
John  White,  of  Nayland,  in  £ssex  ;  who  attended  sir 
Richard  during  his  last  illness,  and  bore  testimony  to  the 
elevated  piety  with  which  he  prepared  for  his  approaching 
dissolution. ' 

BLACKSTONE  (Sir  William),  knight,  and  LL.  D. 
an  illustrious  English  lawyer,  was  born  July  10,  1723,  in 
Cheapside,  in  the  parish  of  St.  Michael-le-Querne,  at 
the  house  of  his  father,  Mr.  Charles  Blackstone,  a  silk- 
man,  and  citizen  and  bowyer  of  London,  who  was  the 
third  son  of  Mr.  John  Blackstone,  an  eminent  apothecary, 
in  Newgate-street,  descended  from  a  family  of  that  name 
in  the  west  of  England,  at  or  near  Salisbury.  His  mother 
was  Mary,  eldest  daughter  of  Lovelace  Bigg,  esq.  of  Chil- 
ton Foliot,  in  Wiltshire.  He  was  the  youngest  of  four 
children,  of  whom,  John  died  an  infant,  Charles,  the 
eldest,  and  Henry,  the  third,  were  educated  at  Winches- 
ternschool,  under  the  care  of  their  uncle  Dr.  Bigg,  warden 
of  that  society,  and  were  afterwards  both  fellows  of  New 
college,  Oxford.  Charles  became  a  fellow  of  Winchester, 
and  rector  of  Wimering,  in  Hampshire ;  and  Henry,  after 
having  practised  physic  for  sofne  years,  went  into  holy 
orders,  and  died  in  1778,  rector  of  Adderburyj  in  Oxford- 
shire, a  living  in  the  gift  of  New-college.  Their  father 
died  some  months  before  die  birth  of  the  subject  of  this 
article,  and  their  mother  died  before  he  was  twelve  years 
old. 

1  Biog.  Brit — Gibber's  Lives.— >Jobnsen^s  Liyes.— Bowleses  edit  pf  Popv't 
Works. — Dr.  Johnson's  Works.— Gent.  -Mag,  vol.  LVIf.  p.  749.— Malonc's 
J)ryden,-vol.  IV.  p.  647. 


B  L  A  C  K  S  T  O  N  E.  341 

.  From  bis  birth,  tbe  care  both  of  his  education  and  for<» 
tune  was  kindly  undertaken  by  bis  maternal  uncle,  Mr. 
l^bomas  Bigg,  an  eminent  surgeon  in  London,  and  after'- 
wards,  on  tbe  death  of  bis  eldest  brothers,  owner  of  the^ 
Chilton  estate,  which,  if  we  mistake  not,  is  still  enjoyed 
by  that  family.  The  affectionate  care  of  this  uncle,  in 
giving  all  his  nephews  a  liberal  education,  supplied  the 
great  loss  they  had  so  early  sustained,  and  compensated, 
in  a  great  degree,  for  their  want  of  more  ample  fortunes, 
and  it  was  always  remembered  by  them  with  the  sincerest 
gratitude.  In  1730,  being  about  seven  years  of  age,  he 
was  put  to  school  at  the  Charter-house,  and  in  1735  wafl, 
by  the  nomination  of  sir  Robert  Walpole,  on  the  recom^* 
mendation  of  Charles  Wither,  of  Hall,  in  Hampshire,  esq.. 
his  cousin  by  the  mother^s  side,  admitted  upon  the  foua* 
dation. 

In  this  excellent  seminary  he  applied  himself  to  every- 
branch  of  youthful  education,  with  the  same  assiduity  which 
accompanied  his  studies  through  life.     His  talents  and  in-* 
dustry  rendered  him  the  favourite  of  bis  masters,  who  en-* 
couraged  and  assisted  him  with  the  utmost  attention ;  so 
that  at  the  age  of  fifteen  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  school, 
and,  although  so  young,  was  thought  well  qualified  to  be 
removed  to  the  university ;  and  he  was  accordingly  en« 
tered  a  commoner  at  Pembroke  college,  Oxford,  Nov.  30, 
1738,  and  was  the  next  day  matriculated.     At  this  tineie 
he  was  elected  to  one  of  the  Charter-house  exhibitions,  by 
the  governors  of  that  foundation,  to  commence  from  the 
Michaelmas  preceding,  but  was  permitted  to  coatinue  a 
scholar  there  till  after  the  12th  of  December,  beiag  the 
anniversary  commemoration  of  the  founder,  to  give  him 
an  opportunity  of  speaking  the  customary  oration,  whiefa 
he  had  prepared,  and  which  did  him  much  credit.    Abeul 
this  time,  also,  he  obtained  Mr.  Benson^s  gold  prize  medal 
of  Milton,    for  verses  on  that  poet.     Thus,   before  he 
quitted  school,  his  genius  received  public  marks  of  ap« 
probation  and  reward;  and  so  well  pleased  was  the  society 
of  Pembroke  collie  with  their  young  pupil,  that,  in  the 
February  following,  they  unanimously  elected  him  to  one 
of  iady  Holford's  exhibitions  for  Charter  •house  scholars  in 
that  bouse.      , 

Here  he  prosecuted  his  studies  with  unremitting  ard^iu:, 
and,  although  the  classics,  and  particularly  the  Greek  aiKJl 
^om^apaets,  were  hi^  favourites,  they  did  not  ent^/slyi 


342  B  L  A  C  K  S  T  O  N  E. 

engross  bis  attention ;  logic,  mathematics,  and  the  other 
sciences  were  not  neglected.  From  the  first  of  these, 
(studied  rationally,  abstracted  from  the  jargon  of  the  schools), 
he  laid  the  foundation  of  that  close  method  of  reasoning 
for  which  he  was  so  remarkable ;  and  from  the  mathe- 
matics, he  not  only  reaped  the  benefit  of  using  his  mind 
to  a  close  investigation  of  every  subject  that  occurred  to 
him,  till  he  arrived  at  the  degree  of  demonstration  which 
the  nature  of  it  would  admit,  but  converted  that  dry  study, 
as  it  is  usually  thought,  into  an  amusement,  by  pursuing 
the  branch  of  it  which  relates  to  architecture.  This  sci- 
ence he  was  peculiarly  fond  of,  and  made  hirtiself  so  far 
roaster  of  it,  that  at  the  early  age  of  twenty,  he  compiled, 
a  treatise  entitled  "  Elements  of  Architecture,"  intended 
for  his  own  use  only,  and  not  for  publication,  but  esteemed 
by  those  judges  who  have  perused  it,  in  no.  respect  un- 
worthy of  his  maturer  judgment,  and  more  exercised  pen. 

Having  determined  on  his  future  plan  of  life,  and  made 
ehoice  of  the  law  for  his  profession,  he  was  entered  in  the 
Middle  Temple,  Nov.  20,  1741,  and  found  it  necessary  to 
quit  the  more  amusing  pursuits  of  his  youth  for  the  se- 
verer studies  ta  which  he  had  dedicated  himself,  and  be- 
took himself  seriously  to  reading  law.  His  sensations  on 
this  occasion  are  admirably  expressed  in  some  verses  since 
published  in  Dodsley's  poems,  vol.  IV.  entitled  "  The 
Lawyer's  Farewell  to  his  Muse,"  in  which  the  straggle  of 
bis  mind  is  expressed  so  strongly,  so  naturally,  with  such 
elegance  of  language,  and  harmony  of  versification,  as 
must  convince  every  reader,  that  his  passion  for  the  muses 
was  too  deeply  rooted  to  be  laid  aside  without  much  reluc- 
tance ;  and  that  if  he  had  pursued  that  fiowery  path,  he 
would  not,  perhaps,  have  proved  inferior  to  the  best  of 
our  modern  poets.  Several  little  fugitive  pieces,  besides 
this,  have  at  times  been  communicated  by  him  to  his 
friends,  and  he  left  {but  not  with  a  view  to  publication)  a 
small  collection  of  juvenile  pieces,  both  originals  and 
translations,  which  do  him  no  discredit,  inscribed  with  thi^ 
litie,  from  Horace, 

"  Nee  lusisse  pudet^  sed  non  inddere  ludum.*' 

Some  notes  on  Shakspeare,  which  just  before  his  death 
he  communicated  to  Mr.  Malone,  and  which  were  inserted 
byhim  in  his  supplement  to  Johnson  and  Steevens's  edition 
ef  that  author,  shew  how  well  he  understood  the  meaning, 
^9  well  as  the  beauties^  of  that,  his  favourite  among  the 


I 


B  L  A  C  K  S  T  O  N  E,  84^ 

Snglish  poets ;  and  we  may  mention  likewise  his  elegant 
and  acute  defence  of  Addison,  inserted  in  the  life  of  that 
author^  in  the  second  edition  of  the  Biographia  Britanoica. 

Ill  November  1743,  he  was  *  elected  into  the  society  of 
All  Souls'coliegej  and  in  the  November  following,  bespoke 
the  annual  speech  in  commemoration  of  archbishop  Chi-i 
chele,  the  founder,  and  the  other  benefactors  to  that 
house  of  learning,  and  was  admitted  actual  fellow.  From 
this  period  he  divided  his  time  between  tlie  university  and 
the  Temple,  where  he  took  chambers  in  order  to  attend  the 
courts  :  in  the  former  he  pursued  his  academical  studies, 
and,  on  the  12th  of  June  1745,  commenced  B.  C.  L. ;  in 
the  latter  he  applied  himself  closely  to  his  profession, 
both  in  tiie  hall,  and  in  his  private  studies,  and  on  the. 
28th  of  November  1746,  was  called  to  the  bar. 

The  first  years  of  a  counsel's  attendance  on  the  courts 
afford  little,  matter  proper,  to  be  inserted  in  a  narrative  of 
this  kind}'  and  he,  in  particular,  not  being  happy  in  a 
graceful f delivery,  or  a  flow  of  elocution,  (both  of  which 
he  much*  v^ai>ted},  nor  having  any  powerful  friends  or  con-» 
nexions  to  recommend  him,  made  his  way  very  slowly,  and 
acquired  Uttle  notice  and  little  practice  ;  yet  he  then  began 
to  lay  in  that  store  of  knowledge  in  the  law  which  he  has' 
since  communicated  to  the  world,  and  contracted  an  ac- 
quaintance with  several  of  the  most  eminent  men  in  that 
profession,  who  saw  through  the  then  intervening  cloud, 
those  talents  which  afterwards  were  exerted  with  so  much- 
splendour. 

At  Oxford  his  active  mind  had  more  room  to  display- 
Itself;  and  being  elected  into  the  office  of  Bursar,  soon- 
after  he  bad  taken  his  degree,  and  finding  the  muninaent& 
of  the  college  in  a  confused,  irregular  state,  he  undertook; 
and  completed  a  thorough  search,  and  a  new  arrangement, 
from  whence  that  society  reaped  great  advantage.  He 
found  also,  in  the  execution  of  this  office,  the  method  of 
keeping  accounts  in  use  among  the  older  colleges,  though, 
very  exact,  yet  rather  tedious^  and  perplexed;  he  drew^ 
up,  therefore,  a  dissertation  on  the  i^ubject,  in  which  he 
entered  into  the  whole  theory,  and  elucidated  every  intri^ 
cacy  that  might  occur.  A  copy  of  this  tract  is  still  pfe*- 
served,  for  the  benefit  of  his  successors  id  the  Bursarsbip^ 
But  it  was  not  merely  the  estates,  muniments,  and  s^^pount^, 
of  the  college,  about  which  he  was  usefully  employed- 
during  his  residence  in  that  society.     Th^  ^od^ingtQ^ 


^44  B  L  A  C  K  S  T  O  N  E. 

fibritry  had  for  many  years  remained  an  unfinisfaed  boilding. 
He  hastened  the  completion  of  it,  rectified  several  mis* 
takes  in  the  architecture,  and  formed  a  new  arrangement 
of  the  books  under  their  respective  classes. 

The  late  duke  of  Wharton,  who  had  engaged  himself 
by  bond  to  defray  the  expence  of  building  the  apartments 
between  the  library  and  common  room,  being  obliged  soon 
after  to  leave  his  country,  and  dying  in  very  distressed 
circumstances,  the  discharge  of  this  obligation  was  long 
despaired  of.  It  happened,  however,  in  a  course  of  years, 
that  his  grace^s  executors  were  enabled  to  pay  his  debts  ; 
when,  by  the  care  and  activity  of  Mr.  Blackstone,  the 
building  was  completed,  the  college  thereby  enabled  to 
make  its  demand,  and  the  whole  benefaction  recovered. 
In  May  1749,  as  a  small  reward  for  his  services,  and  to 
give  him  further  opportunities  of  advancing  the  interests 
of  the  coUeg^i  he  was  appointed  steward  of  their, manors  ;' 
and  in  the  same  year,  on  the  resignation  of  bis  V||[<cl6  Sey- 
mour Richmond,  esq.  h(^  was  elected  record^^of  tb^ 
borough  of  Wallingford,  in  Berkshire,  and  recced  the 
ting's  approbation  on  tbew30th  of  May. 

The  26th  of  April,  1750,  he  commenced  doctor  of  civil 
law,  and  thereby  became  a  member  of  the  convocation ; 
which  enabled  hini  to  extend  his  views  beyond  the  narrow 
circle  of  his  own  society,  to  the  general  benefit  of  the  uni- 
versity at  large.  In  this  year  he  published  *^  An  essay  on 
GoHateral  Consanguinity,"  relative  to  the  claim  made  by 
such  as  could  by  a  pedigree  prove  themselves  of  kin  to  the 
founder  of  All-Souls  college,  of  being  elected  preferably 
to  all  others  into  that  society.  Those  claims  became  now 
so  numerous,  that  the  college,  with  reason,  complained  of 
being  freqiicfntly  precluded  from  making  choice  of  the 
most  ingenious  and  deserving  candidates.  In  this  treatise, 
iVhich  was  his  first  publication^  he  endeavoured  jto  prove, 
that  as  the  kindred  to  the  founder,  a  Popish  ecclesiastic^ 
could  be;6nly'c<)llat«ral,  the  length  of  time  elapsed  since 
Bis  death  niust,  aceoifding  to  the  rules  both  of  the  civil  and 
canon  law, 'have  exitinguisbed  consanguinity  ;  or  that  the 
whole  race'of  mankind  were  equally  founders*  kinsmen. » 
This  work,  although  it  did  not  answer  the  end  proposed, 
or  convince  the  then  visitor,  yet  did  the  author  great  cre- 
dit ;  and  shewed-  that  he  had  read  much,  and  well  digested 
^at  he*  had  read.  And  most  probably,  the  arguments 
contained'  in  -it  had  some  weight  wilb  ius  Qrace  the  late 


BLACKS  T  O  NTE.  34S 

archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Dr.  Cornwallis,  when  about 
forty  years  ago,  on«  application  to  him,  as  visitor  of  the 
college,  he  formed  a  new  regulation,  which  gives  general 
satisfaction,  by  limiting  the  number  of  Founder's  kin ;  by 
which  the  inconvenience  complained  of  was  in  a  great 
measure  removed,  without  annihilating  a  claim  founded  ou 
the  express  words  of  the  college  statutes.  In  forming  this 
new  regulation,  his*  Grace  made  choice  of  Mr.  Blackstona 
as  hw  cOmmon^law  assessor,  together  with  Dr.  Hay  the 
oiviliafi. 

After  having  attended  the  courts  in  Westminster-hall 
for  seven  years,  and  finding  the  profits  of  his  profession 
very  inadequate  to  the  expence,  in  the  summer  of  1753^ 
he  determined  to  retire  to  his  fellowship  and  an  academicadi 
life,  still  continuing  the  practice  of  bis  profession,  as  a 
provincial  counsel.  He  had  previously  planned,  what  he 
noif  b^an  to  execute,  his  ^'  Lectures  on  the  Laws  of 
Engtanli^^'  a  work  which  has  so  justly  signalized  his  name* 
In  the^^suing  Michaelm^  term  he  entered  on  his  new 
proviflW  of  reading  these  lectures ;  which,  even  at  their 
commencement,  such  wQie  th€  expectations  formed  from 
the  acknowledged  abilities  of  the  lecturer,  were  attended 
by  a  very  crowded  class  of  young  men  of  the  first  families, 
characters,  and  hopes.  In  July,  1755,  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  delegates  of  the  Clarendon  press.  On  his  ^ 
entering  on  this  office,  he  discovered  many  abuses  which 
required  correction ;  and  much  mismanagement  which  de« 
manded  new  and  effectual  regulations.  In  order  to  obtain 
a  thorough  insight  into  the  nature  of  both,  he  made  him- 
self master  of  the  mechanical  part  of  printing ;  and  to  pro-^ 
mote  and  complete  a  reform,  he  printed  a  letter  on  the 
subject,  addressed  td  Dn  Randolph,  then  vice-chancellor. 
This  and  his  other  endearvours  produced  the  desired  effect; 
and  he  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing,  within  the  course  of  a 
year,  the  reform  he  had  proposed,  carried  into  execution. 
About  a  year  before  this,  he  published  ^^  An  Analysis  of 
the  Laws  of  England,"  as  a  guide  to  those  gentlemen  Who 
attended  his  lectures,  on  tlieir  first  introduction  to  that 
study;  in  which  he  reduced  that  intricate  science  to  a 
clear  method,  intelligible  to  the  youngest  student. 

In  1757,  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Coxed,  warden  of  Win- 
chester, he  was  elected  by  the  surviving  visitors  of  Michel's 
new  foundation  in  Queen's  college  into  that  body.  Thi» 
p^ew  situation  afforded  fjresb,  matter  for  his  active  genius  ^ 


346  B  L  A  C  IC  S  T  O  K  E. 

* 

and  it  was  chiefly  by  his  means  that  this  donation,  which 
had  been  for  some  years  contested,  becanae  a  very  valu- 
able acquisition  to  the  college,  as  well  as  an  ornan^ent  to 
the  university,  by  completing  that  handsome  pile  of  build- 
ing towards  the  High-street,  which  for  many  years  had 
been  little  better  than  a  confused  heap  of  ruins.  The  .en- 
grafting a  new  set  of  fellows  and  scholars  into  an  old  esta- 
blished society  could  not  be  an  easy  task,  and  in  the  pre- 
sent instance  was  become  more  difficult,  from  the  many 
unsuccessful  attempts  that  had  been  made,  all  of  which 
had  only  terminated  in  disputes  between  the  members  of 
the  old  and  the  visitors  of  the  new  foundation  ;  yet  under 
these  circumstances  Dr.  Blackstone  was  not  disheartened,, 
but  formed  and  pursued  a  plan,  calculated  to  improve  Mr. 
MicbePs  original  donation,  without  departing  from  his  in- 
tention ;  and  had  tbe  pleasure  to  see  it  completed,  en- 
tirely to  the  satisfaction  of  the  members  of  the  old  founda- 
tion, and  confirmed,  together- with  a  body  of  statute^  he* 
drew  for  the  purpose,  by  actof-.parliament,  in  176§..-    r 

Being  engaged  as  ^counsel  i»-  the  great  contiest  for 
knights  of  the  shire  for  the«oun<ty  of  Oxford  in  17-54,  he 
very  accurately  considered  a  question  then  much  agitated, 

.  whether  copyholders  of  a  certain  nature  had  a  right  to  vote 
in  county  elections  I  He  afterwards  reduced  his  thoughts 
on  that  subject  into  a  small  treatise  ;  and  w^s  prevailed  on 

'by  sir  Charles  Mordaunt,  and  other  members  of  parliament^ 
who  bad  brought  in  a  bill  to  decide  that  controverted  point, 
to  publish  it  in  March  1758j  under  the  title  of  **  Con* 
siderations  on  Copyholders."  And  the  bill  soon  after  re- 
ceived the  sanction  of  the  legislature,  and  passed  into  a 
law. 

Mr.  Viner  having  by  his  will  left  not  only  the  copy-right 
of  his  abridgement,  but  other  property  to  a  considerable 
amount,  to  the  University  of  Oxford,  to  found  a  professor- 
ship, fellowships,  and  scholarships  of  common  law,  he  was 
on  the  20th  of  October,  1758,  unanimously  elected  Vinerian 
professor;  and  on  the  25th  of  the  same  month  read  his 
first  introductory  lecture ;  one  of  the  most  elegant  and  ad« 
mired  compositions  which  any  age  or  country  ever  pro- 
duced :  this  he  published  at  the  request  of  the  vice-chan- 
cellor and  heads  of  houses,  and  afterwards  prefixed  to  the 
first  volume  of  his  Commentaries.  His  lectures  had  now 
gained  such  universal  applause,  that  he  was  requested  by  a 
Qoble  personage,  who  .superintended  the  edqcsition.  of  our 


B  L  A  C  K  S  TONE.  947 

I 

present  sovereign,  then  prince  of  Wales,  to  read  them  to 
his  royal  highness ;  but  as  he  was  at  that  time  engaged  to 
a  numerous  class  of  pupils  in  the  university,  he  thought 
be  couJd  not,  consistently  with  that  engagement,  comply 
with  this  request,  and  therefore  declined  it.  But  he  trans-* 
mitted  copies  of  many  of  them  for  the  perusal  of  his 
royal  highness  \  who,-  far  from  being  offended  at  an  excuse 
grounded  on  so  honourable  a  motive,  was  pleased  to  order 
a  handsome  gratuity  to  be  presented  to  him. 

In  1759  he  published  two  small  pieces  merely  relative  to 
the  university ;  the  one  entitled,  "  Reflections  on  the 
opinions  of  Messrs.  Pratt,  Morton,  and  Wilbraham,  relat- 
ing to  lord  Litchfield^s  Disqualification,^^  who  was  then  a 
candidate  for  the  chancellorship  :  the  other,  **  A  Case  for 
the  opinion  of  counsel  on  the  right  of  the  University  ta 
make  New  Statutes," 

Having  now  established  a  reputation  by  his  lectures, 
which  be  justly  thought  might  entitle  him  to  some  particu- 
lar notice  at  the  bar,  in  June  1759,  he  bought  chambers 
in  the  Temple,  resigned  the  office  of  assessor  of  the  vice- 
chancellor's  court,  which  he  had  held  about  six  years,  and 
soon  after  the  stewardship  of  AiUSouls  college;  and  in 
Michaelmas  term,  1759,  resumed  his  ^attendance  at  West-^ 
minster,  still  continuing  to  pass  some  part  of  the  year  at 
Oxford,  and  to  read  his  lectures  there,  at  such  times  as 
did  not  interfere  with  the  London  terms.  The  year  before 
this  he  declined  the  honour  of  the  coif,  which  he  was 
pressed  to  accept  of  by  lord  chief  justice  Willes  and  Mr* 
justice  (afterwards  earl)  Bathurst. 

In  November  1759,  he  published  a  new  edition  of  the 
Great  Charter,  and  Charter  of  the  Forest ;  which  added 
much  to  his  former  reputation,  not  only  as  a  great  lawyer, 
but  as  an  accurate  antiquary,  and  an  able  historian.  It 
must  also  be  added,  that  the  external  beauties  in  the  print- 
ing, the  types,  &c.  reflected  no  small  honour  on  him,  as 
the  principal  reformer  of  the  Clarendon  press,  from  whence 
no  work  had  ever  before  issued,  equal  in  those  particulars 
to  this.  This  publication  drew  him  into  a  short  contro* 
versy  with  the  late  Dr.  Lyttelton,  then  dean  of  Exeter, 
and  afterwards  bishop  of  Carlisle.  The  dean,  to  assist  Mr. 
Blackstone  in  his  publication,  had  favoured  him  with  the 
collation  of  a  very  curious  ancient  roll,  containing  both  the 
Great  Charter,  and  that  of  the  Forest,  of  the  9th  of  Henry 
III.  which  he  and  many  of  his  friends  judged  to  be  an  ori«r 


348 


B  L  A  C  K  S  T  O  N  E. 


ginal.  The  editor  of  the  Charters,  however,  thought  other*^ 
wise,  and  excused  himself  (in  a  note  in  his  introduction) 
for  having  made  no  use  of  its  various  readings,  *^  as  the 
plan  of  bis  edition  was  confined  to  charters  which  had 
passed  the  great  seal,  or  else  to  authentic  entries  and  enrol- 
laents  of  record,  under  neither  of  which  classes  the  r<41  in 
question  could  be  ranked.''  The  dean,,  upon  this,  con« 
csemed  for  the  credit  of  his  roll,  presented  to  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries  a  vindication  of  its  authenticity,  dated  June 
the  8th,  1761 ;  and  Mr.  Blackstone  delivered  in  an  answer 
to  the  same  learned  body,  dated  May  the  28th,  1762,  al^* 
leging,  as  an  excuse  for  the  trouble  he  gave  theiOy 
*^  that  he  should  think  himself  wanting  in  that  respect 
which  he  owed  to  the  society,  and  Dr.  Lyttelton^  if  he  did 
not  either  own  and  correct  his  .mistakes,  in  tfte  octavo  edi* 
tion  then  preparing  for  the  press,  or  submit-to  the  society's 
judgment  the  reasons  at  large  upon  which  his  suspicions 
were  founded."  These  reasons,  we  may  suppose^  were 
convincing,  for  here  the  dispute  ended  *. 

About  the  same  time  he  also  published  a  small  .treatise 
on  the  Law  of  Descents  in  Fee  Simple. « 
.  A  dissolution  of  parliament  having  taken  place,  he  was 
in  March  1761,  returned  burgess  for  Hindon,  in  Wiltshire^ 
and  on  the  6th  of  May  following  had  a  patent  of  precedence 
granted  him  to  rank  as  king's  counsel,  having  a  few  months 
before  declined  the  office  of  chief  justice  of  the  court  of 
common  pleas  in  Ireland. 

.  Finding  himself  not  deceived  in  his  expectations  in  re<* 
spect  to  an  increase  of  business  in  his  profession,  he  now 
determined  to  settle  in  life,  and  on  the  5th  of  May,  1761, 
he  married  Sarah  the  eldest  surviving  daughter  of  the  late 
James  Clitherow,  of  Coston-^house,  in  the  county  of  Mid- 
dlesex, esq.  with  whom  he  passed  near  nineteen  years  in 
the  enjoyment  of  the  purest  domestic  and  conjugal  felicity^ 
for  which  no  man  was  better  calculated,  and  which,  housed 
often  to  declare,  was  the  happiest  part  of  his  life :  by  ber 


*  It  may  be  here  mentioned,  that,  aj; 
an  antiquary,  and  a  member  of  this  so- 
ciety, into  which  he  was  admitted  Fe- 
bruary the  5ti),  1761,  be  wrote  '<4 
Letter  to  the  hon.  Daines  Barringfon, 
describing  an  antique  Seal,  with  some 
Obserrations  on  its  original,  and  (be 
two  sacGessive  controversies  which  the 
disuse  of  it  afterwards  occasioned/' 
Tbii  Milj  iMvifi^  the.  royal  arnu  of 


England  on  it,  was  one  of  those  which 
all  persons  having  the  exercise  of  ec- 
clesiastical juriadictioii  wt re  obliged  by 
the  statute  of  the  1st  of  Ed.  VI.  ch:  2, 
to  mal^e  use  of.  This  letter  is  printed 
in  the  third  Tolame  of  the  Arotoole* 
gia  i  but  his  discussion  of  the  merits 
of  the  Lyttelton  roll,  though  contain- 
ing much  good  criticisoiii  has  QOit  ye| 
b^eti  ofUid^  public. 


B'  L  A  C  K  S  T  O  N  E.  340 


•  • 


be  had  nine  children,  the  eldest  and  youngest  of  whom  died 
infants  :  seven  survived  him  ;  viz.  Henry,  James*,  William^ 
Charles,  Sarah,  Mary,  and  Philippa ;  the  eldest  not  much 
ahove  the  age  of  16  at  his  death. 

His  marriage  having  vacated  his  fellowship  at  All-Souls^ 
fae  was,  on  the  28th  of  July  1761,  appointed  by  the  earl  of 
Westmoreland,  at  that  time  chancellor  of  Oxford,  principal 
of  New-inn  halt.  This  was  an  agreeable  residence  during 
the  time  his  lectures  required  him  to  be  in  Oxford,  and 
was  attended  with  this  additional  pleasing  circumstance^ 
that  it  gave  him  rank,  as  the  head  of  an  house  iti  the  nni« 
versity,  and  enabled  him,  by  that  means,  to  continue  to 
promote  whatever  occurred  to  him,  that  might  be  useful 
and  beneficial  to  that  learned  body.  An  attempt  being 
made  about  this  time  to  restrain  the  power  given  him,  as . 
professor,  by  the  Vinerian  statutes,  to  nominate  a  deputy 
to  read  the  solemn  lectures,  he  published  a  state  of  the  case 
for  the  perusal  of  the  members  of  convocation ;  upon  which 
it  was  dropped. 

In  the  following  year,  1762,  he  collected  and  republished 
several  of  his  pieoes,  under  the  title  of  "  Law  Tracts,"  in 
2  vols.  8vo.  In  1763,  on  the  establishment  ol'  the  queen^s 
family,  Mr.  Blackstone  was  appointed  solicitor  general  to 
her  majesty,  and  was  chosen  about  the  same  time  a  bencher 
of  the  Middle  Temple. 

Many  imperfect  and  incorrect  copies  of  his  lectures  hav^^ 
^ng  by  ^is  time  got  abroad,  and  a  pirated  edition  of  theia 
being  either  published,  or  preparing  for  publication  in  Ire- 
land, he  found  himself  under  the  necessity  of  printing  a 
correct  edition  himself;  and  in  November,  1765,  published 
the  first  volume,  under  the  title  of  *^  Commentaries  on  the 
Laws  of  England,*^  and  in  the  course  of  the  four  succeeding 
years  the  other  tliree  volumes,  which  completed  a  work 
that  will  transmit  his  name  to  posterity  among  the  first  class 
of  English  authors,  and  will  be  universally  read  and  ad-^ 
mired,  as  long  as  the  laws,  the  constitution,  and  the  lan- 
guage of  this  country  remain.  Two  circumstances  re- 
specting this'  great  work,  omitted  by  his  biographer,  we 
are  enabled  to  add  from  unquestionable  authority.  So 
anxious  was  he  that  this  work  should  appear  with  everyt 

I^OBStUe  advantage,  that  he  printed  three  copies  of  the  first 

« 

^  Kow  .|»|^ii|oipi^l  of  New   Inn  M),    ftssesf or  to    the  vi<;e-cliauc«Uorf  modr 
deputy  Steward. 


550  B  L  A  C  K  S  T  O  N  E. 

Volume,  which  he  sent  to  three  learned  friends,  for  theif 
opinion. — ^The  other  circumstance  does  honour  to  his 
liberality.  After  reserving  the  copy-right  in  his  own  hands 
for  some  years,  he  disposed  of  it  to  Messrs.  Strahan  and 
Cadell  for  a  considerable  sum,  but  as,  immediately  after 
concluding  the  bargain,  the  decision  passed  the  house  of 
lord^,  which  depreciated  literary  property,  he  offered 
Messrs.  Strahan  and  Cadell,  to  cancel  the  agreement,  and 
substitute  another,  by  which  he  thought  they  would  be 
less  injured.  These  gentlemen,  however,  met  his  proposij- 
tion  with  a  corresponding  liberality,  and  the  original  bar4 
gain  stood;  and  every  reader  will  be  glad  to  hear  that  they 
were  no  losers,  the  work  soon  becoming,  and  yet  remain* 
ing,  in  every  sense,  an  English  classic. 

In  1766,  he  resigned  the  Vinerian  professorship,  and 
the  principality  of  New-inn  hall;  finding  he  could  not 
discharge  the  personal  duties  of  the  former,  consistently 
with  his  professional  attendance  in  London,  or  the  delicacy 
of  his  feelings  as  an  honest  man.  Thus  was  he  detachedi 
from  Oxford,  to  the  inexpressible  loss  of  that  university, 
and  the  great  regret  of  all  those  who  wished  well  to  the 
establishment  of  the  study  of  the  law  therein.  When  he 
first  turned  his  views  towards  the  Vinerian  professorship, 
he  had  formed  a  design  of  settling  in  Oxford  for  life ;  he 
had  flattered  himself,  that  by  annexing  the  office  of  pro^ 
fessor  to  the  principality  of  one  of  the  halls  (and  perhaps 
converting  it  into  a  college),  and  placing  Mr.  Viner's  feliowsi 
and  scholars  under  their  professor,  a  society  might  be  estab* 
lished  for  students  of  the  commbn  law,  similar  to  that  of 
Trinity  hall  in  Cambridge  for  civilians.  Mr.  Viner's  will 
very  much  favoured  this  plan.  He  leaves  to  the  university 
*^  all  his  personal  estate,  books,  &c.  for  the  constituting, 
establishing,,  and  endowing  one  or  more  fellowship  or  feU 
lowships,  and  scholarship  or  scholarships,  in  any  college 
or  hall  in  the  said  university,  as  to  the  convocation  shall  be 
thought  most  proper  for  students  of  the  common  law."  But 
notwithstanding  this  plain  direction  to  establish  them  in 
some  college  or  hall,  the  clause  from  the  delegates  which 
ratified  this  designation,  had  the  fate  to  be  rejected  by  a 
negative  in  convocation. 

In  the  new  parliament  chosen  in  1768  he  was  returned 
burgess  for  Westbury  in  Wiltshire.  In  the  course  of  this 
parliament,  the  question,  '^  Whether  a  member  expelled 
was^  or  was  not,  eligible  in  the  same  parliament/^  was  fre-* 


B  L  A  C  K  S  T  O  N  E-  351 

quently  agitated  in  the  house  with  much  warmth;  and 
what  fell  from  him  in  a  debate  being  deemed  by  some  per- 
sons contradictory  to  what  he  had  advanced  on  the  same 
subject  in  his  Commentaries,  he  was  attacked  with  much 
asperity,  in  a  pamphlet  supposed  to  be  written  by  a  baro- 
net, a  member  of  that  house.  To  this  charge  he  gave  an 
early  reply  in  print.  In  the  same  year.  Dr.  Priestley  ani- 
madverted on  some  positions  in  the  same  work,  relative  to 
offences  against  the  doctrine  of  the  established  church,  to 
which  he  published  an  answer, 

**,Mr.  Biackstone^s  reputation  as  a  great  and  able  lawyer 
was  now*  so  thoroughly  established,  that  had  he  been  pos** 
sessed  of  a  constitution  equal  to  the  fatigues  attending  the 
most  extensive  business  of  the  profession,  be  might  pro- 
bably have  obtained  its  most  lucrative  emoluments  and 
highest  offices.  The  offer  of  the  solicitor  generalship,  on 
the  resignation  of  Mr.  Dunning,  in  Jan.  1770,  opened  the 
most  flattering  prospects  to  his  view.  But  the  attendance 
on  its  complicated  duties  at  the  bar,  and  in  the  house  of 
commons,  induced  him  to  refuse  it.  But  though  he  de- 
clined this  path,  which  so  certainly,  with  abilities  like  Mr. 
Blackstone's,  leads  to  the  highest  dignities  in  the  law,  yet 
he  readily  accepted  the  ofiice  of  judge  of  the  common 
pleas,  when  offered  to  him  on  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Justice 
Clive ;  to  which  he  was  appointed  on  the  9th  of  February 
1770.  Previous  however  to  the  passing  his  patent,  Mr. 
Justice  Yates  expressed  an  earnest  wish  to  remove  from  the 
king^s  bench  to  the  court  of  common  pleas.  To  this  wish 
Mr.  Blackstone,  from  motives  of  personal  esteem,  consent- 
ed :  but  en  his  death,  which  happened  between  the  en- 
suing Easter  and  Trinity  terms,  Mr.  Blackstone  was  ap-* 
pointed  to  his  original  destination  in  the  common  pleas ; 
and  on  his  promotion  to  the  bench,  he  resigned  the  re- 
cordership  of  Wallingford. 

He  seemed  now  arrived  at  the  point  he  always  wished 
for,  and  might  justly  be  said  to  enjoy  ^^  otium  cum  digni* 
tate.**  Freed  from  the  attendance  at  the  bar,  and  what  he 
had  3till  a  greater  aversion  to,  in  the  senate,  ^^  where  (to 
use  his  own  expression)  amid  the  rage  of  contending  par- 
ties, a  man  of  moderation  must  expect  to  meet  with  no 
<}uarter  from  any  side,''  although  be  diligently  and  con- 
scientiously attended  the  duties  of  the  high  office  he  was 
tiow  placed  in,  yet  the  leisure  afforded  by  the  legal  vaca- 
tions he  dedicated  to  the  private  duties  of  life,  which,  aa* 


552  B  L  A  C  K  S  T  O  N  E. 

the  father  of  a  numerous  family^  he  now  found  himself 
called  upon  to  exercise,  or  to  literary  retirement,  and  the 
society  of  bis  friends,  at  his  viUa,  called  Priory-place,  in 
Wallingford  :  which  he  purchased  soon  after  his  marriage^ 
though  he  had  for  some  years  before  occasionally  resided 
at  it.  His  connection  with  this  town,  both  from  his  office 
of  recorder,  and  his  more  or  less  frequent  residence  tbere^ 
from  about  1750,  led  him  to  form  and  promote  every  plan 
which  could  contribute  to  its  benefit  or  improvement.  To 
bis  activity  it  stands  indebted  for  two  new  turnpike  roads 
through  the  town  ;  the  one  opening  a  conmiunication,  by 
means  of  a  new  bridge  over  the  Thames  at  Shillingford^ 
between  Oxford  and  Reading;  the  other  to  Wantage 
through  the  vale  of  Berkshire.  He  was  indeed  always  a 
great  promoter  of  the  improvement  of  public  roads  :  the 
new  western  road  over  Botley  Causeway  was  prelected, 
and  the  plan  of  it  entirely  conducted  by  him.  He  was  the 
more  earnest  in  thi3  design,  not  merely  as  a  work  of  gene- 
ral utility  and  ornament,  but  as  a  solid  improvement  to  the 
estate  of  a  nobleman,  in  settling  whose  affairs  he  had  been 
most  laboriously  and  beneficially  employed*  To  his  archi- 
tectural talents,  also,  his  liberal  disposition,  his  judicious 
zeal,  and  his  numerous  friends,  Wallingford  owes  the  re- 
building chat  handsome  fabric,  St.  Peter's  church.  These 
were  his  employments  in  retirement;  in  London  his 
active  mind  was  never  idle,  and  when  not  occupied  in  the 
duties  of  his  station,  he  was  ever  engaged  in  some  scheme 
of  public  utility.  The  last  of  this  kind  in  which  he  was 
concerned,  was  the  act  of  parliament  for  providing  de- 
tached houses  of  hard  labour  for  convicts,  as  a  ^substitute 
for  transportation.  Of  this  scheme  we  have  just  given 
some  account  in  the  life  of  Blackburn  the  architect.  It  has 
been  put  in  practice  in  several  counties,  but  the  questioa. 
as  to  the  beneficial  effects  of  solitary  confinement,  although 
frequently  agitated,  has  not  been  so  completely  decided 
as  to  obviate  many  obj'ections  which  have  been  lately  of- 
fered. 

It  ought  not  to  be  omitted,  that  the  last  augmentation  of 
the  judges'  salaries,  calculated  to  make  up  the  deficiencies 
occasioned  by  the  heavy  taxes  they  are  subject  to,  and 
thereby  render  them  more  independent,  was.  obtained'  in  a 
great  measure  by  his  industry  and  attention. 

In  this  useful  and  agreeable  manner  he  passed  the  last 
ten  years  of  his  life;  but  not  without  many  interruptions 


B  L  A  C  K  Sr  T  O  N  E,  55J 

by  illnes^.  His  constitution,  hurt  by  the  studious  midnight 
labours  of  his  younger  days,  and  an  unhappy  aversion  he 
always  had  to  exercise,  grew  daily  worse ;  not  only  the 
gout,  with  which  he  was  frequently,  though  not  very  se- 
verely, visited  from  1759,  but  a  nervous  disorder  also,  that 
frequently  brought  on  a  giddiness  or  vertigo,  added  to  a 
corpulency  of  body,  rendered  him  still  more  unactive  than 
he  used  to  be,  and  contributed  to  the  breaking  up  of  his 
constitution  at  an  early  period  of  life.  About  Christmaa 
1779  he  was  seized  with  a  violent  shortness  of  breath,  which, 
the  faculty  apprehended  was  occasioned  by  a  dropsical 
habit,  and  water  on  the  chest.  By  the  application  of  pro* 
per  remedies  that  effect  of  his  disorder  was  soon  removed^ 
but  the  cause  was  not  eradicated  ;  for  on  his  coming  up  to 
town  to  attend  Hilary  term,  he  was  seized  with  a  fresh  at« 
tack,  chiefly  in^his  head,  which  brought  on  a  drowsiness 
and  stupor,  and  baf&ed  all  the  art  of  medicine ;  the  disorder 
increasing  so  rapidly,  that  he  became  at  last  for  some  days 
almost  totally  insensible,  and  expired  on  the  14th  of  Feb. 
1780,  in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  his  age. 

A  few  weeks  before  he  died,  he  was  applied  to  by  the 
trustees  for  executing  the  will  of  the  late  sir  George  Down- 
ing, bart.  who  had  bequeathed  a  large  estate  for  the  en- 
dowing a  new  college  in  Cambridge,  to  give  his  assistance 
in  forming  a  proper  plan  for  this  society,  and  framing  a 
body  of  statutes  for  its  regulation.  This  was  a  task  to  which 
his  abilities  were  peculiarly  adapted ;  and  it  may  be  difE- 
cult  to  determine,  whether  the  application  reflected  more 
honour  on  the  trustees,  or  on  him.  He  had  mentioned  to 
some  of  his  most  intimate  friends,  his  undertaking  this  bq* 
siness  with  great  pleasure,  and  seemed  to  promise  himself 
much  satisfaction  in  the  amusement  it  would  afford  him  : 
but,  alas !  his  disorder  was  then  coming  on  with  such  hasty 
strides,  that  before  any  thing  could  be  done  in  it,  death 
put  an  end  to  this  and  all  his  labours,  and  left  the  univer- 
sity of  Cambridge,  as  well  as  that  of  Oxford,  to.  lament  the 
loss  of  Mr.  Justice  Blackstone.  He  was  buried,  by  his  own 
direction,  in  a  vault  he  had  built  for  his  family,  in  his  pa* 
rish  church  of  St.  Peter's  in  Wallingford.  His  neighbour 
)ind  friend  Dr.  Barrington,  bishop  of  Landaff,  now  of  Dur^ 
ham,  at  his  own  particular  request,  performed  the  funeral 
service,  as  a  public  testimony  of  his  personal  regard  and 
highest  esteem. 

In  his  public  line  of  life  he  approved  himself  an  able| 

Vol*  V.  A  A 


35*  B  L  A  C  K  S  T  O  N  E. 

upright,  impartial  judge;  perfectly  acquainted  with  the 
laws  of  the  countryi  and  making  them  the  invariable  rule 
of  his  conduct.  As  a  senator,  he  was  averse  lo  party  vio-* 
lence,  and  moderate  in  his  sentiments.  Not  only  in  parlia- 
ment, but  at  all  tim^s,  and  on  all  occasions,  he  was  a  firm 
supporter  of  the  true  principles  of  our  happy  constitution 
in  church  and  state ;  on  the  real  merits  of  which  few  men 
were  so  well  qualified  to  decide.  He  was  ever  an  active 
and  judicious  promoter  of  whatever  he  thought  useful  or 
advantageous  to  the  public  in  general,  or  to  any  particular 
spciety  or  neighbourhood  he  was  connected  with  ;  and  hav- 
ing not  only  a  sound  judgment,  but  the  clearest  ideas,  and 
the  most  analytical  head  that  any  man,  perhaps,  was  ever 
blessed  with;  these  qualifications,  joined  to  an  unremitting 
perseverance  in  pursuing  whatever  he  thought  right,  ena- 
bled him  to  carry  many  beneficial  plans  into  execution, 
which  probably  would  have  failed,  if  they  had  been  at- 
tempted by  other  men. 

He  was  a  believer  in  the  great  truths  of  Christianity, 
from  a  thorough  investigation  of  its  evidence  :  attached  to 
the  church  of  England  from  conviction  of  its  excellence, 
his  principles  were  those  of  its  genuine  members,  enlarged 
and  tolerant.  His  ireligion  was  pure  and  unaffected,  and 
his  attendance  on  its  public  duties  regular,  and  those  du- 
ties always  performed  with  seriousness  and  devotion. 

His  professional  abilities  need  not  be  dwelt  upon.  They 
will  be  universally  acknowledged  and  admired,  as  long  as 
his  works  shall  be  read,  or,  in  other  words,  as  long  as  the 
municipal  laws  of  this  country  shall  remain  an  object  of 
st^dy  and  practice :  and  though  his  works  will  only  bold 
forth  to  future  generations  his  knowledge  of  the  law,  and 
his  talents  as  a  writer,  there  was  hardly  any  branch  of  lite- 
rature be  was  unacquainted  with.  He  ever  employed  much 
time  in  reading,  and  whatever  he  had  read  and  once  di- 
gested, he  never  forgot  He  was  an  excellent  manager 
of  his  time ;  and  although  so  much  of  it  was  spent  in  an 
applicaition  to  books,  and  the  employment  of  his  pen,  yet 
this  was  done  without  the  parade  or  ostentation  of  being  a 
hard  student.  It  was  observed  of  him,  during  his  residence 
at  college,  that  his  studies  never  appeared  to  break  in  upon 
the  common  business  of  life,  or  the  innocent  amusements 
o^  society ;  for  the  latter  of  which  few  men  were  better 
calculated,  being  possessed  of  the  happy  faculty  of  making 
his  own  company  agreeablfi^  and  instructive,  whilst  be  en* 


.      B  L  A  C  K  S  T  O  N  E.  355 

joyed,  without  reserve,  the  society  of  others.  Melancthon 
himself  could  not  have  been  more  rigid  in  observing  the 
hour  and  minute  of  an  appointment.  During  the  years  in 
which  he  read  his  lectures  at  Oxford,  it  could  not  be  re- 
membered that  he  had  ev;er  kept  his  audien^ce  waiting  for 
him,  even  for  a  few  minutes.     As  he  valued  his  own  tinie^  * 

he  was  extremely  careful  not  to  be  instrumental  in  squan- 
dering or  trifling  away  that  of  others,  who,  he  hoped,  might 
have  as  much  regard  for  theirs,  as  he  had  for  his.  Indeed^ 
puftctuality  was  in  his  opinion  so  much  a  virtue,  that  he 
could  not  bring  himself  to  think  favourably  of  any  who 
were  notoriously  defective  in  it. 

The  virtues  of  his  private  character,  less  conspicuous  ia 
their  nature,  and  consequently  less  generally  known,  eh- 
deared  him  to  those  he  was  more  intimately  connected 
with,  and  who  saw  him  in  the  more  retired  scenes  of  life. 
He  was,  notwithstanding  his  contracted  brow  (owing  in  a 
gireat  measure  to  his  being  very  near-sighted),  a  cheerful, 
agreeable,  and  facetious  companion.  He  was  a  faithful 
friend,  an  affectionate  husband  and  parent,  and  a  charitable 
benefactor  to  the  poor  *,  possessed  of  generosity,  without 
affectation,  bounded  by  prudence  and  ceconomy.  The 
constant  accurate  knowledge  he  had  of  his  income  and  ex- 
pences  (the  consequence  of  uncommon  regularity  in  his 
accounts)  enabled  him  to  avoid  the  opposite  extremes  of 
meanness  and  profusion. 

Being  himself  strict  in  the  exercise  of  every  public  and 
jprivate  duty,  he  expected  the  same  attention  to  both  ia  '* 

others :  and,  when  disappointed  in  his  expectations,  was 
apt  to  animadvert  with  some  degree  of  severity  on  those 
who,  in  his  estimate  of  duty,  seemed  to  deserve  it.  This 
rigid  sense  of  obligation,  added  to  a  certain  irritability  of 
temper,  derived  from  nature,  and  increased  in'  his  latter 
jears  by  a  strong  nervous  affection,  together  with  his  coun- 
tenance apd  figure,  conveyed  an  idea  of  sternness,  which 
occasioned  the  unmerited  imputation,  among  those  wfaQ 
did  not  know  him,  of  ill-nature  :  but  he  had  a  heart  as  be- 
nevolent and  as  feeling  as  .man. ever  possessed.  A  natural 
reserve  and  diffidence  which  accompanied  him  from  his 
earliest  youth,  and  which  he  could  never  shrike  off,  ap- 
peared to  a  casual  observer,  though  it  was  only  appearance, 
like  pride ;  especially  after  he  became  a  judge,  when  he 
thought  it  his  duty  to  keep* strictly  up  to  forms  (which,  as 
b^  was  wont  to  observe,  are  now  too  much  laid  aside),  and 

A  A  2 


356  B  L  A  C  K  S  T  O  N  E. 

not  to  lessen  the  respect  due  to  the  dignity  and  gravity  of 
his  office,  by  any  outward  levity  of  behaviour. 

For  this  excellent  meinoir  of  Judge  Blackstone,  we  are 
indebted  to  the  Preface  prefixed  to  his  "  Reports/'  1780, 
2  vols,  folio,  written  by  James  Clitherow,  esq.  his  brother- 
in-law.     For  its  length  no  apology  can  be  necessary,  for 
Blackstone  may  justly   be  ranked  among  the  illustrious 
characters  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  as  possessing  a 
claim  to  permanent  reputation  which  it  will  not  be  easy  to 
lessen. — It  was  not  long  after  his  death,  before  the  sons^of 
Oxford  paid  the  honours  due  to  the  memory  of  so  eminent 
a  scholar  and  benefactor.     In    1781,  a  portrait  was  pre- 
sented to  the  picture-gallery,  by  R.  Woodeson,  D.t.  L. 
professor ;  T.  Milles,  B.  C.  L. ;  T.  Plumer,  A.  M. ;  and  H. 
Addington,  A.  M.  (now  lord  Sidmouth),  scholars  upon  Vi- 
ner's  foundation  :  and  in   1784,  by  the  liberality  of  Dr. 
Buckler,  and  a  few  other  members  of  All  Souls,  a  beauti- 
ful statue,  by  Bacon,  was  erected  in  the  hall  of  that  col- 
lege, and  may  be  considered  as  one  of  its  most  striking 
ornaments.     His  arms  iare  likewise  in  one  of  the  nordb 
windows  of  the  elegant  chapel  of  All  Souls. ' 

BLACKWALL   (Anthony),   a  native  of  Derbyshire, 
born  in  1674,   was   admitted  sizer  in   Emanuel  college, 
Cambridge,  Sept.  13,  1690;  proceeded  B.  A.  in  1694,  and 
went  out  M.  A.  1698.     He  was  appointed  head  master  of 
the  free-school  at  Derby,  and  lecturer  of  All-hallows  there, 
where  in  1706  he  distinguished  himself  in  the  literary 
world  by  *^  Theognidis  Megarensis  sententi®  morales,  no- 
va Latina  versione,  notis  et  emendationibus,  explanatae  et 
exornatsD  :  un^  cum  variis  lectionibus,  &c.^*  8vo.     Whilst 
at  Derby  he  also  published  '<  An  Introduction  to  the  Clas- 
sics ;  containing  a  short  discourse  on  their  excellences,  and 
^  directions  how  to  study  them  to  advantage :  with  an  essay 
on  the  nature  and  use  of  those  emphatical  and  beautiful 
figures  which  give  strength  and  ornament  to  writing,"  1718, 
12mo;  in  which  he  displayed  the  beauties  of  those  ad- 
mirable writers  of  antiquity,  in  a  very  instructive,  concise, 
and  clear  manner.     In  1722  he  was  appointed  head  master 
of  the  free-school  at  Market-Bosworth  in  Leicestershire ; 
and  in  1725  appeared,  in  quarto,  his  greatest  and  most 
celebrated  work,  **  The  Sacred  Classics  defended  and  il- 

1  From  Memoirs  at  aboTe.^-In  1782,  a  strange,  rambling  Life  of  Sir  W. 
Blackstone,  appeared  in  an  8to  voluine,  ranarkabit  only  for  Cfiptioas  remark»« 


B  L  A  C  K  W  A  L  L.  357 

lustrated.*'  A  second  volume  (completed  but  a  few  weeks 
before  his  death)  was  published  in  1731,  under  the  title  of 
"  The  Sacred  Classics  defended  and  illustrated.  The  se- 
cond and  last  volume."  To  this  volume  was  prefixed  a 
portrait  of  the  author  by  Verl;ue,  from  an  original  painting. 
Both  volumes  were  reprinted  in  4to,  Lipsioe,  1736,  In 
many  respects  this  is  a  work  of  great  merit.  It  displays  a 
fund  of  genuine  learning,  and  contains  a  number  of  useful 
and  important  observations.  In  a  great  variety  of  instances 
it  is  shewn,  that  several  of  the  words  and  phrases  in  the 
New  Testament  which  have  been  condemned  as  barbarous, 
are  to  be  found  in  Greek  writers  of  the  best  reputation. 
But  it  is  the  opinion  of  some  judicious  critics,  that  he  has 
not  succeeded  in  proving  the  general  purity  and  elegance 
of  language  in  which  the  evangelists  and  apostles  wrote, 
Among  these  Dr.  Campbell  appears  to  be  Mr.  Blackwall's 
most  formidable  adversary,  in  his  "  Four  Gospels  trans- 
lated from  the  Greek,"  4 to  edit.  vol.  I.  p.  1 3 — 17. 

Mr.  Blackwall,  in  his  seminaries  at  Derby  and  Bosworth, 
had  the  felicity  of  bringing  up  a  number  of  excellent 
scholars  besides  Mr.  Dawes.  Among  these  was  sir  Henry 
Atkins,  hart,  who,  being  patron  of  the  church  of  Clapham 
in  Siirrey,  as  a  mark  of  his  gratitude  and  esteem,  presented 
our  author,  on  the  1 2th  of  October,  1726,  to  that  rectory, 
which  was  then  supposed  tg  be  worth  three  hundred  pounds 
,  a  year.  The  grammar  which  Mr.  Blackwall  made  use  of, 
for  the  purpose  of  initiating  the  young  people  under  his 
care  into  the.  knowledge  of  the  Latin  tongue,  was  of  his 
own  composition ;  and  it  was  considered  as  so  well  adapted 
to  that  end,  that  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  publish  it  ia 
1728.  Such,  however,  was  his  modesty,  that  it  would  not 
pertpit  him  to  fix  his  name  to  it,  because  he  would  not  be 
thought  to  prescribe  to  other  instructors  of  youth.  The 
title  of  it  is,  **  A  New  Latin  Grammar ;  being  a  short, 
clear,  and  easy  introduction  of  young  scholars  to  theknow- 
lege  of  the  Latin  tongue  ;  containing  an  exact  account  of 
the  two  first  parts  of  grammar."  It  is  probable,  that  Mr. 
BlackwalPs  situation  at  Clapham  did  not  altogether  suit  his 
disposition;  for,  early  in  1729,  he  resigned  the  rectory 
.  of  that  place,  and  retired  to  Market- Bosworth,  where  his 
abilities  and  convivial  turn  of  mind  rendered  him  generally 
respected.  At  the  school-house  of  this  town  he  died,  ou 
the  8th  of  April,  1730.  He  left  behind  him  two  children, 
»  son  and  a  daughter.     The  son  was  an  attorney  at  Stoke-» 


S58  B  L  A  C  K  W  A  L  L. 

Golding,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Bosworth,  where  he  died 
July  5y  1763;  and  the  daughter  was  married  to  a  Mr. 
Pickering.  * 

BLACKWELL  (Elizabeth),  an  ingeniouis  lady,  to  whom 
physic  was  indebted  for  the  most  complete  set  of  figures  of 
the  medicinal  plants,  was  the  daughter  of  a  merchant  of 
Aberdeen,  and  born,  probably  about  the  beginning  of  the 
last  century.  Her  husband,  Dr.  Alexander  Blackwell  (bro- 
ther of  Dr.  Thomas,  the  subject  of  our  next  artiele)  re* 
ceived  an  university  education,  and  was  early  distinguished 
for  his  classical  knowledge. ,  By  some  he  is  said  only  to 
have  assumed  the  title  of  doctor  after  his  successful  at- 
tendance on  the  king  of  Sweden,  but  the  other  report  is 
more  probable,  that  when  he  had  regularly  studied  medi- 
cine, he  took  his  degree  at  Ley  den  under  Boerhaave^ 
Having  failed  in  his  attempt  to  introduce  himself  into 
practice,  first  in  Scotland,  and  afterwards  in  London,  he 
became  corrector  of  the  press  for  Mr.  Wilkins,  a  printer. 
After  some  years  spent  in  this  employment,  he  set  up  as  a 
printer  himself,  and  carried  on  several  large  works,  till  1734, 
when  he  became  bankrupt.  To  relieve  bis  distresses,  Mrs. 
Blackwell,  having  a  genius  for  drawing  and  painting,  ex- 
erted all  her  talents :  and,  understanding  that  an  herbal 
of  medicinal  plants  was  greatly  wanted,  she  exhibited  to 
sir  Hans  Sloane,  Dr.  Mead,  and  other  physicians,  some 
specimens  of  her  art  in  paintin'g  plants,  who  approved  so 
highly  of  them  as  to  encourage  her  to  prosecute  a  work, 
by  the  profits  of  which  she  is  said  to  have  procured  her 
husband^s  liberty,  after  a  confinement  of  two  years. 

Mr.  Rand,  an  eminent  apothecary,  was  at  that  time 
demonstrator  to  the  company  of  apothecaries,  in  th^  gar- 
den at  Chelsea,  and  by  his  advice  she  took  up  her  resi- 
dency opposite  the  physic  garden,  in  order  to  facilitate  her 
design,  by  receiving  the  plants  as  fresh  as  possible.  He 
not  only  promoted  her  work  with  the  public,  but,  together 
with  Mr.  Philip  Miller,  afforded  her  all  possible  direction 
^nd  assistance  in  the  execution  of  it.  After  she  had  com-s 
pleted  the  drawings,  she  engraved  them  on  copper,  and 
coloured  the  *  prints  with  her  own  bands.  During  he^ 
abode  at  Chelsea,  she  was  frequently  visited  by  per- 
sons of  quality,  and  many  scientific  people  who  ad- 
mired her  performances,    and  patronized  her   undertak- 

*  Biog.  ?rit.  ▼ql.  V.  p.  17—19,  note  oa  Da wey.— Nichols's  Bowycr,  ,vol.  I. 


BLACKWELL.  358 

I 
\ 

ittg.  On  publishing  the  first  volume  in  17?7,  she  obtained 
a  recommendation  from  Dr.  Mead,  Dr.  Sberard,  Mr.  Rand, 
and  others,  to  be  prefixed  to  it.  And  being  allowed  to 
present,  in  person,  a  copy  to  the  college  of  physicians, 
that  body  made  her  a  present,  and  gave  her  a  public  testi- 
monial of  their  approbation  ;  with  leave  to  prefix  it  to  her 
book.  The  second  volume  was  finished  in  1739,  and  the 
whole  pubhshed  under  the  title,  ^^  A  curious  Herbal,  con-* 
taining  500  cuts  of  the  most  useful  plants  which  are  now 
used  in  the  practice  of  physic,  engraved  on  folio  copper- 
plates, aft^r  drawings  taken  from  the  life.  By  Elizabeth 
BlackweU.  To  which  is  added,  a  short  description  of  the 
plants,  and  their  common  uses  in  physic,"  2  vols.  fol. 

The  drawings  are  in  general  faithful,  and  if  there  is 
wanting  that  accuracy  which  modern  improvements  have 
rendered  necessaiy,  in  delineating  the  more  minute  parts, 
yet,,  upon  the  whole,  the  figures  are  sufficiently  distinctive 
of  the  subject.  Each  plate  is  accompanied  with  an  en- 
graved page,  containing  the  Latin  and  English  officinal 
namies,  followed  by  a  short  description  of  the  plant,  and  a 
summary,  of  its  qualities  and  uses.  After  these  occurs  the 
name  in  various  other  languages.  These  illustrations  were 
the  share  her  husband  took  in  the  work. 

This  ill-fated  man,  after  bis  £adl\ire  in  physic  iEind  in 
printing,  became  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  the  place 
of  secretary  to  the  society  foir  the  encouragement  of  learning. 
He  was  then  made  superintendant  of  the  works  belonging 
to  the  duke  of  Chandos  at  Caiinons,  and  experienced  those 
disappointments  incident  to  projectors.  He  also  formed 
schemes  in  agriculture,  and  wrote  a  treatise  on  the  subject, 
wbicb,  we  are  told,  was  the  cause  of  his  being  engaged  in 
Sweden.  In  tbat  kingdom  he  drained  marshes,  practised 
'physic,  and  was  even  empk^ed  in  that  capacity  for  the 
king.  At  length  he  w:as  involved  in  some  state  cabals,  or, 
as  some  accounts  inform  ns,  in  a  plot  with  count  Tessin^ 
and  was  put  to  the  torture,  which  not  producing  a  confess* 
sion,  he  was  beheaded,  Aug.  9,  1747.  The  British  ambas« 
sador  was  recalled  from  Sweden  in  the  same,  year,  among 
other  reasons,  for  the  imputations  thrown  on  his  Britannic 
majesty  in  the  trial  of  Dr.  Bkokwell.  Soon  after  this 
ftvent,  appeared  "  A  genuine  copy  of  a  Letter  from  a  mer»-  ^ 
chant  in  Stockholm,  to  his  correspondent  in.  London,  con- 
taining an  impartial  account  of  Dr.  Alexander  BlackweU, 
Hiii  plqt,  trial,  character,  and  l^ehavioar,  both  under  e«:-  ^ 


360  B  L  A  C  K  W  EL  L 

ainination  and  at  the  place  of  execution,  together  \vith  a 
copy  of  a  paper  delivered  to  a  friend  upon  the  scaffold/' 
in  which  he  denied  the  crime  imputed  to  him. — When 
Mrs.  Blackwell  died  does  not  appear.  An  improved  edi- 
tion of  her  Herbal  was  published  by  Trew,  the  text  in 
Latin  and  German,  Nuremberg,  1750 — 1760,  fol.  and  at 
Leipsic  was  published  in  1794,  8vo,  "  Nomenclator  Lin- 
nasanus  in  Blackvellianum  Herbarium  per  C.  G.  Groening,*' 
a  proof  of  the  estimation  in  which  this  work  is  still  held  on 
the  continent.  ^ 

BLACK  WELL  (Thomas),  an  ingenious,  and  very  learned 
writer  of  the  last  century,  was  born  August  4,  1701,  in  the 
city  of  Aberdeen.    His  father,  the  rev.  Mr.  Thomas  Black- 
well,  was  minister  of  Paisley  in  Renfrewshire,  from  whence 
}xe  was  removed  in  1700  to  be  one  of  the  ministers  of 
Aberdeen.    He  was  afterwards  elected  professor  of  divinity 
in  the  Marischal  college  of  that  city,  and  in  1717  was  pre- 
sented by  his  majesty  to  be  principal  of  the  college,  in 
both  which  offices  he  continued  until  his* death  in  1728. 
His  mother's  name  was  Johnston,  of  a  good  family  near 
Cl^sgoWj  and  sister  to  Dr.  Johnston,  who  was  many  years 
prof^ssprof  medicine  in  the  university  of  Glasgow.     Our 
author  received  his  grammatical  education  at  the  grammar- 
pchopl  of  Aberdeen,  studied  Greek  and  philosophy  in  the 
Marischal  college  there,  and  took  the  degree  of  master  of 
arts  in  1718;  which,  as  he  was  at  that  time  only  seven- 
teen yjears  of  age,  jmust  be  regarded  as  a  considerable  tes- 
timony pf  bis  early  proficiency  in  literature.     A  farther 
proof  of  it  was  his  being  presented,  on  the  28th  of  No- 
vember 1723,  by  his  majesty  king  George  the  Fhrst,   to 
the  professorship  of  Greek,  in  the  college  in  which  he  had 
been  edupated.     He  was  admitted  into  this  office  on  the 
13th  of  Deisember  in  the  same  year;  and  after  that  con* 
tinned  to  teach  the  Greek  language  with  great  applause. 
His  knowledge  of  that  language  was  accurate  and  exten- 
sive, and  bis  manner  of  communicating  it  perspicuous  and 
^engaging.     He  had  a  dignity  of  address  which  commanded 
the  attention  of  the  students,  a  steadiness  in  exacting  the 
prescribed  e^eroises  which  enforced  application,  and  an 
enthusiasm  for  the  beantii^s  of  the  ancients,  and  utility  of 
^l^ssipa}  l^^roing,  which  WcitJpd  an  ardour  of  study,  and 

I  Nichols's  Bowycr.w-Pultency's  HUt,  and  Bipg.  Sketche».r-Gent.  Mag.  vol, 
JKVII.  where  is  an  account  of  Mr.  Biackwell  somewhat  different  from  the  abov^ 
tfff  Bl#^veii*B  famUjr  werp  fipt  nry  ^wvfOWi  of  prejienrinf  V»  m^^^f% . 


BLACKWELL,  361 

eontributed  much  to  diffuse  a  spirit  for  Grecian  erudition 
far  superior  to  what  bad  taken  place  before  he  was  called 
to  the  professorship.     Together  with  his  lessons  in   the 
Greek  tongue,  he  gave,  likewise,  lessons  on  some  of  the 
Latin  classics,  chiefly  with  a  view  to  infuse  a  relish  for 
their  beauties.     To  his  zeal  and  diligence  in  discharging 
the  duties  of  his  station,  it  is  probable  that  the  world  was, 
in  part,  indebted  for  such  men  as  Campbell,  Gerard,  Reid, 
Seattle,  Duncan,  and  the  Fordyces,  who  have  appeared 
with  so  much  eminence  in  the  republic  of  letters.     When 
the  celebrated  Dr.  Berkeley  was  engaged  in  the  scheme 
of  establishing   an  American  university  in   the   Summer 
Islands,  Mr.  Blackwell  was  in  treaty  with  him  for  going 
out  as  one  of  bis  young  professors ;  but  the  negociation 
did  not  take  effect.     In  1735  was  published  at  London,  in 
octavo,  without  the  name  of  the  bookseller,  and  without 
his  own  name,  our  author's  "  Enquiry  into  the  Life  and 
Writings  of  Homer;"    a  work,  the  great  ingenuity  and 
learning. of  which  will  be  acknowledged  by  all  who  have 
perused  it*     It  was  embellished  with  plates,  designed  by 
Gravelot,  and  executed  by  different  engravers.     This  we 
apprehend   to  be  the  most  esteemed,  and  it  is,  in  our 
opinion,  thef  inost  valuable,  of  Mr.  Blackwell's  perform- 
ances.    The  second   edition  appeared  in  1736;  and,  not 
Jong  after,. he  published  "  Proofs  of  the  Enquiry  into  Ho- 
mer's Life  and  Writings,  translated  into  English :  being  a 
key.  to  the  Enquiry  ;  with  a  curious  frontispiece."     This 
was  a  translation  of  the  numerous  Greek,  Latin,  Spanish, 
Italian  and  French  notes  which  had  been  subjoined  to  the 
original  work.     In  1748,  C9.me  out,  in  London,  '^  Letters 
concerning  Mythology,"  in  a  large  octavo,  but  without 
the  bookseller  (Andrew  Millar's)   name.     On  the  7th  of 
October,  in  the  same  year,  our  author  was  appointed  by 
his  late  majesty,  George  II.  to  be  principal  of  the  Ma- 
riscbal  college  in  Aberdeen,  and  was  admitted  to  the  of* 
fice  on  the  9th  of  November  following.     He  contuiued, 
also,  professor  of  Greek  till  his  death.     He  is  the  only 
layman  ever  appointed  principal  of  that  college,  since  the 
patronage  came  to  the  crown,   by  the  forfeiture  of  the 
Marischal  family  in  1716;  all  the  other  principals  Having 
been   ministers   of  the   established   church  of  Scotlanat. 
When  Robert  and  Andrew  Foulis,  printers  at  Glasgow,  in- 
tended to  publish  an  edition  of  Plato,  Mr.  Blackwell  pro«* 
p09ed  to  furnish  them  with  several  criticstl  notes  for  \t,  to« 


M        I 


562  B  L  A  C  K  W  E  L  1. 

jgetber  with  an  account  of  Plato's  Life  and  Philosophy: 
but  the  printers  not  acceding  to  the  terms  which  he  de- 
manded for  this  assistance,,  he  promised^  by  a  Latin  ad« 
vertisement  in  1751,  himself  to  give  an  edition  of  Plato. 
His  design,  however^  was  not  carried  into  execution ;  nor 
did  it  appear,  from  any  thing  found  among  his  papers  af- 
ter his  death,  that  he  had  made  any  considerable  progress 
in  the  undertaking.  On  the  3d  of  March,  1752,  he  took 
the  degree  of  doctor  of  Laws.  In  the  following  year,  ap- 
peared the  first  volume  of  his  ^^  Memoirs  of  the  Court  of 
Augustus,"  in  4to.  The  second  volume  came  out  in  1755 ; 
and  the  third,  which  was  posthumous,  and  lefb  incomplete 
by  the  author,  was  prepared  for  the  press  by  John  Mills, 
esq.  and  published  in  1764.  At  the  same  time,  was  pub- 
lished the  third  edition  of  the  two  former  volumes.  This 
is  a  proof  of  the  good  reception  the  work  met  with  from 
the  public,  though  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  pa- 
rade with  which  it  was  written,  and  the  peculiarity  of  the 
language,  exposed  it  to  some  severity  of  censure,  parti- 
cularly to  a  most  acute,  and  in  some  respects  humourous, 
criticism  by  Dr.  Johnson,  written  for  the  Literary  Maga«r 
zine,  and  now  inserted  in  Johnson's  works.  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  there  is  a  considerable  degree  of  affectation  in 
Dr.  Black welP,s  style  and  manner  of  composition:  and, 
unhappily,  this  affectation  increased  in  him  as  he  advanced 
in  yeiars.  His  "  Enquiry  into  the  Life  of  Homer'*  was  not 
free  from  it :  it  was  still  more  discernible  in  his  "  Letters' 
concerning  Mythology  ;''  and  was  most  of  all  apparent  in 
his  "  Memoirs  of  the  Court  of  Augustus.'*  We  perceive 
in  his  various  productions  a  mixture  of  pedantry  :  but  it  is 
not  the  sober  dull  pedantry  of  the  merely  recluse  scholar. 
•In  Dr.  Blackwell  it  assumes  a  higher  form.  Together  with 
th^display  of  his  erudition,  he  is  ambitious  of  talking  like 
a  man  who  is  not  a  little  acquainted  with  the  world.  He 
is  often  speaking  of  life  and  action,  of  men  and  man- 
ners ;  and  aims  at  writing  with  the  freedom  and  politenessi 
of  oqe  who  has  been  much  conversant  with  the  public.  But 
in  this  he  is  unsuccessful :  for  though  he  was  not  destitute 
of  genius  or  fancy,  and  had  a  high  relish  for  the  beautieai 
of  the  ancient  authors,  he  never  attained  that  sin^plicity  of 
taste,  which  leads  to  true  ease  and**  elegance  in  com- 
position. It  is  probable,  also,  that,  like  many  others  at 
that  time,  he  might  be  seduced  by  an  injudicious imitatioil 


B  L  A  C  K  W  E  L  L,  SM 

of  lord   Shaftesbury ;  a  writer,  whose  faults  have  beea 
found  more  easily  attainable  than  his  excellences. 

Soon  after  Dr.  Blackwell  became  principal  of  his  college 
he  married  Barbara  Black,  the  daughter  of  a  merchant  of 
Aberdeen,  by  whom  he  had  no  children,  and  who  survived 
him  so  late  as  1793.  Several  years  before  his  death,  his 
health  began  to  decline ;  so  that  he  was  obliged  to  employ 
an  assistant  for  teaching  his  Greek  class.  His  disorder  was 
of  the  consumptive  kind,  and  it  was  thought  to  be  increased 
by  the  excess  of  abstemiousness  which  he  imposed  on  him-r 
self;  and,  in  which,  notwithstanding  all  the  remonstrance^ 
of  his  physicians,  he  obstinately  persisted,  from  an  opinion 
of  his  own  knowledge  of  his  constitution,  and  of  what  he 
found  by  experience  to  suit  it  best.  His  disease  increas-- 
ing,  he  was  advised  to  travel ;  and  accordingly,  in  Febru- 
ary 1757,  he  set  out  from  Aberdeen,  but  was  able  to  go 
tio  farther  than  Edinburgh,  in  which  city  he  died,  on  the 
8th  of  March  following,  in  the  fifty-sixth  year  of  his  age. 
Dr.  Blackwell  enjoyed  an  equable  flow  of  temper,  in  which 
his  intimate  friends  scarcely  ever  observed  any  variation* 
This  he  maintained  during  his  whole  illness.  The  day  be- 
fore hie  set  out  from  Aberdeen,  he  desired  to  meet  with  all 
the  professors  of  the  college,  and  spent  two  hours  with, 
them  with  bis  usual  vivacity.  In  Edinburgh  he  was  visited, 
at  his  own  desire,  by  Dr.  W^illace,  one  of  the  ministers  of 
that  city,  whose  ingenuity  and  learning  are  well  known* 
Dr.  Blackwell,  on  the  very  day  in  which  he  died,  wrote 
letters  to  several  of  his  friends,  and  took  leave  of  them  with 
the  greatest  cheerfulness.  In  the  April  following  our  au- 
thor's decease,  it  being  Dr.  Gerard's  business,  as  (at  that 
time)  professor  of  moral  philosophy  and  logic  in  the  Ma- 
rischal  college,  to  preside  at  conferring  the  degree  of 
master  of  arts  on  those  whose  standing  entitled  them  to  ity 
the  doctor  took  that  occasion  to  pronounce  publicly,  on 
the  late  principal,  such  an  en.comium  as  his  literature  de- 
served. It  was  a  fault  in  Dr.  Blackwell,  that  he  too  much 
assumed  the  appearance  of  universal  knowledge ;  the  con- 
sequence of  which  was  that  he  sometimes  laid  himself  open, 
by  entering  on  subjects  of  philosophy  and  mathematics, 
without  a  suflScient  acquaintance  with  them.  With  all  the 
ancient,  and  with  most  of  the  modern  languages,  he  was 
really  acquainted  ;  and  his  reading,  in  the  departments  of 
history  and  the  belles  lettres,  was  very  extensive.     He  bad 


364  &L  A  C.K  W  E  L  L. 

* 

a  ready  and  lively  manner  of  introducing  his  knowledg^f  of 
this  kindy  which  made  his  conversation  both  instructive 
and  entertaining ;  and  it  was  rendered  still  more  so  by  be- 
ing accompanied  with  great  good  humour,  and  an  entire 
command  of  his  passions,  even  when  he  was  provoked. 
Though  he  had  something  of  the  stiffness  of  the  recluse, 
he  joined  with  it  much  of  the  confidence  and  good  breed- 
ing that  are  found  in  men  who  converse  much  in  the  world. 
His  life  was  private  and  studious :  he  did  not  wholly  de- 
cline mixed  companies,  though  it  was  but  seldom  that  he 
came  into  them  ;  and  at  home  he  chose  only  the  conver* 
sation  of  the  learned,  or  that  of  persons  of  superior  rank  or 
fortune.  At  London  he  was  known  to  several  men  of  emi- 
nence. The  late  duke  of  Newcastle,  and  Mr.  Henry  Pel- 
ham,  were  his  patrons,  and  procured  for  him  the  office  of 
principal  of  the  Marischal  college.  It  is  confidently  said 
that  they  had  intended  him  an  establishment  at  Cambridge, 
and  that  the  professorship  of  modern  history  was  dxed  upoo 
for  him,  if  he  had  not  died  a  short  time  before  it  became 
vacant.  A  man  of  Dr.  Blackwell's  abilities  and  reputation 
could  not  fail  of  having  some  valuable  literary  connexions 
and  correspondents ;  among  whom  he  had  the  honour  of 
numbering  the  late  celebrated  Dr.  Mead,  and  the  no  less 
celebrated  Dr.  Warburton,  bishop  of  Gloucester.  It  is 
said  that  Mr.  Blackwell,  soon  after  the  publication  of  his 
Enquiry,  being  at  Cambridge,  paid  a  visit  to  Dr.  Bentley, 
and  the  discourse  turning  upon  tne  book,  the  doctor,  being 
asked  his  opinion  of  it,  answered,  **  That  when  he  had 
gone  through  half  of  it,  he  bad  forgotten  the  beginning; 
and  that,  when  he  had  finished  the  reading  of  it,  he  had 
forgotten  the  whole."  •  Whatever  truth  is  in  this  story,  it; 
is  certain,  at  least,  that  a  similar  objection  bad  been  started 
by  others,  if  not  by  Dr.  Bentley. 

In  the  first  volume  of  the  Arch^eologla  is  a  letter,  written 
in  1748,  by  Dr.  Blackwell,  to  Mr.  Ames,  containing  an  ex- 
planation of  a  Greek  inscription,  on  a  white  marble,  found 
in  the  isle  of  Tasso,  near  the  coast  of  Romania,  by  captain 
Joseph  Hales,  in  1728.  As  Dr.  BUckwell  was  singular  in 
bis  style  and  sentiments,  he  likewise  imbibed  some  reli- 
gious opinions,  little  known  at  that  time  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Calvinistic  church  of  Scotland.  He  was  so  much  a  So- 
cinian,  that  he  never  read  the  first  chapter  of  St.  John  in 
his  class,  but  always  began  with  the  second.  This  on  one 
occasion  gave  rise  to  a  foolish  report  respecting  bis  know* 


B  L  A  C  K  W  E  L  L.  S6S 

ledge  of  Gceek;  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  notice  in 
the  life  of  Di*.  Gregory  Sharpe. — His  widow,  who,  as  already 
noticed,  died  in  1793,  bequeathed  her  estates  partly  to 
found  a  chemical  professorship  in  the  college  over  which 
her  husband  had  so  long  presided,  and  partly  for  a  pre- 
mium for  an  English  essay,  and  for  the  augmentation  of 
the  professors'  salaries.' 

BLACKWELL  (GEOReE),  a  learned  English  writer  of 
the  church  of  Rome,  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  was  born  in  the  county  of  Middlesex,  -and  ad- 
mitted a  scholar  of  Trinity  college  in  Oxford  at  seven- 
teen years  of  age.  May  27,    1562,  probationer  in    1565, 
being  then  bachelor  of  arts,  perpetual  fellow  the  year  fol- 
lowing, and  master  of- arts  in  1567.     But  being  more  in-, 
clined  to  the  Roman  catholic  than  the  Protestant  religion, 
he  left  his  fellowship,  and  retired  to  Gloucester  hall,  where 
he  continued  for  some  time,  and  was  highly  esteemed  by 
Edmund  Rainolds  and  Thomas  Allen,  two  learned  seniors^ 
of  that  hall.     He  afterwards  went  beyond  sea^'  antl  spent 
some  time  in  one  of  the  English  seminaries  newly  erected 
to  receive  the  exiled  English  catholics ;  and  was  at  last  in 
1598,  with  the  permission  of  pope  Clement  VIII.  consti- 
tuted by  Henry  cardinal  Cajetan,  protector  of  the  English 
nation  at  Rome,  and  superior  of  the  English  clergy,  with 
the  authority  and  name  of  Archpriest  of  England,  and  was 
appointed  by  that  pope  notary  of  the  apostolic  see.     This 
affair  being  resented  by  the  English  catholic  clergy,  espe- 
cially as  they  imagined  that  our  author  was  absolutely  un- 
der the  influence  of  Henry  Garnet,  provincial  of  the  Jesuits 
of  England,  it  occasioned  a  warm  contest  between  them  in 
England.     The  Jesuits  wrote  and  spoke  against  the  secular 
priests  in  so  virulent  a  manner,  as  to  detract  very  much 
from  BlackwelPs  authority ;  who  upon  this  degraded  them 
of  their  faculties,  so  that  when  they  afterwards  appealed 
to  the  pope,  he  caused  them  to  be  declared  in  a  book 
schismatics    and    heretics.     They  vindicated  themselves 
from  this  charge,  and  procured  the  censure  of  the  univer- 
sity of  Paris  in  their  favour  ;  which  was  answered  by  our 
author.     He  also  declared  his  abhorrence  of  the  Powder 
Plot  in  1605,  and  wrote  two  letters  to  dissuade  the  Roman 
catholics  from  all  violent  practices  against  the  king  and 

^  Biop.  Brit.firom  materials  communicated  by  the  late  Dr.  Geirard.— See  his 
proposals  for  Plato»  Gent.  Ma;,  vol.  XXI.  p.  383.  •  < 


see  BL  A  C  K  W  E  L  L. 

'  .       ■  •         • 

gbvernment  He  held  the  office  of  archpiiest  till  1607, 
when  he  was  succeeded  by  George  Birket.  The  reason  of 
this  change  was,  because  our  author  having  been  seized  at 
London  June  24  the  same  year,  he  was  committed  to  pri- 
son, and  consequently  deprived  of  the  liberty  required  to 
act  in  his  office.  He  was  released  soon  after  upon  his 
taking  the  oath  of  allegiance.  An  account  of  this  affair 
was  published  at  London,  1607,  in  4to,  entitled  "The 
examination  of  George  Blackwell,  upon  occasion  of  his 
answering  a  letter  sent  by  cardinal  Bellarmine,  who  blamed 
him  for  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance."  He  died  suddenly 
January  12,  1612-3,  and  was  buried,  as  Mr.  Wood  sup-  , 
poses,  in  some  church  in  London.  He  was  esteemed  by 
those  of  his  own  persuasion,  and  by  others  likewise,  a  man 
of  great  learning  and  piety,  and  a  good  preacher. 

He  was  the  author  of  "  A  letter  to  cardinal  Cajetane  in 
comniendation  of  the  English  Jesuits,"  written  in  1596. 
**  Answers  upon  sundry  examinations  whilst  he  was  a  pri- 
soner," London,  1607,  4to.  "  Approbation  of  the  Oath 
of  Allegiance;  letters  to  the  Romish  priests  touching  the 
lawfulness  of  taking  the  Oath  of  Allegiance,"  and  another 
to  the  same  purpose,  all  of  which  were  printed  with  the 
**  Answers  upon  sundry  examinations,"  &c.  "  Epistolsoi 
ad  Anglos  Pontificios,"  London,  1609,  4to.  "  Epistolae 
ad  Robertum  cardinalem  Bellarminum.'^  See  the  third 
volume  of  the  Collections  of  Melchior  Goldast,  Francfort, 
1613,  foU  "Answer  to  the  Censure  of  Paris  in  suspending 
the  secular  priests  obedience  to  his  authority,"  dated  May 
the  29th,  1600.'  This  was  replied  to  byJohnDorel,  or 
Barrel,  dean  of  Agen  the  same  year.  "  A  treatise  against 
lying  and  fraudulent  dissimulations,"  in  manuscript,  among 
those  given  to  the  Bodleian  library  by  archbishop  Laud. 
At  the  end  of  it  is  the  approbation  of  the  book  written  by 
Blackwell,  and  recommended  by  him  as  fit  for  the  press ; 
so  that  no  other  name  being  put  to  it,  it  has  been  ascribed 
to  him  ;  whereas  it  is  more  justly  supposed  to  have  been 
Written  by  Francis  Tresham,  esq.  an  English  Catholic* 

BLACKWOOD  (Adam),  professor  of  civil  law  at  Poic- 
tiers,  was  born  at  Dumfermling,  in  Scotland,  in  1539, 
descended  of  an  ancient  family.  He  was  left  an  orphan  ia 
the  tenth  year  of  his  age,  and  was  sent  by  his  uncle,  the 
bishop  of  Orkney,  to  the  university  of  Paris.      On  his 

1  Wood's  Ath.  vol.  L^Gen.  Di'ct.-.CoUier's  Church  Hist. 


BLACKWOOD.  867 

fincte^s  death,  by  which  he  seems  to  have  lost  the  means  of 
being  able  to  remain  at  Paris,  he  returned  to  Scotland, 
but  finding  no  encouragement  there,  he  went  again  to 
Paris,  where,  by  the  liberality  of  Mary,  queen  of  Scot- 
land, he  was  enabled  to  pursue  his  studies  in  philosophy, 
naathematics,  and  the  oriental  languages.  He  then  went 
to  the  university  of  Tholouse,  where  he  studied  civil  law 
for  two  years ;  and  having  obtained  the  patronage  of  Bea- 
ton, archbishop  of  Glasgow,  he  was  chosen  by  the  parlia- 
ment of  Poictiers  one  of  their  counsellors,  and  afterwards 
professor  of  civil  law.  He  died  in  1623,  and  was  interred 
at  Poictiers  in  St.  Porcharius  church,  near  his  brother 
<xeorge.  As  a  writer,  he  was  chiefly  known  for  his  vindi-» 
cation  of  his  royal  mistress,  when  put  to  death  by  queen 
Elizabeth,  written  with,  all  that  bitterness  of  resentment 
which  is  natural  for  a  man  of  spirit  to  feel,  who,  by  an  act 
of  flagrant  injustice,  was  deprived  of  \As  mistress  and  his 
sovereign,  his  friend  and  his  benefactress.  He  addresses 
himsell;  in  a  vehement  strain  of  passion,  to  all  the  princes 
of  Europe,  to  avenge  her  death ;  declaring,  that  they  are 
unworthy  of  royalty,  if  they  are  not  roused  on  so  interest- 
ing and  pressing  an  occasion.  He  laboured  hard  to  prove 
that  .Henry  VHI.'s  marriage  with  Anne  Bolen  was  incestu- 
ous; a  calumny  too  gross  to  merit  a  formal  refutation. 
This  work  was  entitled  **  Martyre  de  Maria  Stuart  Reyne 
d'Escosse,'*  Antwerp,  1588,  8vo.  His  other  works  were, 
1.  **  Adversus  G.  Buchanan!  Dialogum  de  Jure  Regni  apud 
Scotos,  pro  regibus  apologia,"  Pict.  1580,  8vo.  2.  "  De 
Vinculo  Religionis et  Imperii,"  Paris,  1575,  8vo.  3.  ''Sanc- 
tarum  precationutn  praemia,"  a  manual  of  devotions, 
Pict.  1598,  Svo.  4.  "  Varii  generis  poemata,"  ibid.  1609, 
8vo.  5.  *^  Jacobi  I.  Magnse  Britanniae  inauguratio,"  Paris, 
1606,  4to.  These  and  some  other  pieces  by  him,  were 
collected  and  published,  with  a  life,  by  Gabriel  Naudeus, 
1644,  4to.  * 

.  BLACKWOOD  (Henry),  another  brother  of  the  pre- 
ceding, was  born  probably  about  1526,  at  Dumfermling 
in  Fifeshire,  and  educated  at  St.  Andrew's.  He  was  also 
sent  by  his  uncle,  the  bishop  of  Orkney,  to  Paris,  where 
in  1551,  he  taught  philosophy.  He  afterwards  applied 
himself  to  the  study  of  phasic,  became  a  member  of  the 
college  of  physicians,  and  was  finally  honoured  with  the 

,  # 

^  Mackenzie's  Scotch  Writeri^  ^oh  IU.--*Moreri. — Niceron. — ^Nicolson's  Scot- 
ch Iabfary.-**^a]ie^; 


368  BLACKWOOD- 

dignity  of  dean  of  the  faculty,  a  place  of  considerable  im- 
portance in'*  the  college  of  Paris.  He  was  also  appointed 
physician  to  the  duke  de  Longueville,  with  a  salary  of  200 
pistoles.  During  the  plague  at  Paris,  he  had  the  resolute 
humanity  to  continue  in  that  city,  much  to  his  own  honour^ 
and  the  consolation  of  the  people.  He  is  supposed  to  have 
died  in  1613,  or  1614.  He  wrote  several  medical  and  phi-> 
losopbical  treatises,  of  which  we  only  know  of  two  that 
were  printed  :  1.  "  Hippocratis  quaedam  cum  MSS.  col- 
lata,'*  Paris,  1625,  and  2.  *' Questio  Medica,  an  visceri- 
bus  nutritiis  aestuantibus  aquarum  metallicarum  potus  salu- 
bris  ?"  ibid^  4to.  He  had  a  son  of  both  his  names,  like- 
wise a.  physician  of  eminence,  of  whom  Moreri  gives  a*- 
short  account  *  ,  ^ 

BLADEN  (Martiij),  of  Albro'-batch,  in  thef  county  of 
Essex,  was  early  in  life  an  officer  in  the  army,  bearing  the 
commission  of  lieutenant- colonel  in  queen  Anne's  reign, 
under  the  great  duke  of  Marlborough.  In  1714,  he  was 
made  comptroller  of  the  Mint,  and  in  1717,  one  of  the 
lords  commissioners  of  trade  and  plantations.  In  the  same 
year  he  was  appointed  envoy  extraordinary  to  the  court  of 
Spain,  but  declined  it,  and  retained  the  office  he  held 
until  his  death,  Feb.  14,  1746.  He  satin  the  fifth,  sixthy 
and  seventh  parliaments  of  Great  Britain  for  Stockbridge, 
in  the  eighth  for  Maiden,  and  in  the  ninth  for  Portsmouth. 
Coxeter  hints  that  he  was  secretary  of  state  for  Ireland, 
but  this  is  doubtful.  He  wrote  two  very  indifferent  drama- 
tic pieces,  "  Orpheus  and  Euridice,"  and  **  Solon ;"  which 
were  printed  in  1705,  4to,  without  his  consent.  He  is 
best  known,  however,  by  his  translation  of  Caesar's  Com- 
mentaries, which  he  dedicated  to  the  duke  of  Marlborough. 
Thi$  book  was  in  some  estimation  formerly,  and  Mr.  Bow- 
yer  appears  to  have  assisted  in  correcting  it.  He  was' 
buried  in  Stepney  church,  with  a  very  handsome  inscrip- 
tion to  his  memory.  Pope  introduces  him  in  the  Dunciad 
as  a. gamester,  for  what  reason  cannot  now  be  ascertained. 
He  was  uncle  to  Collins  the  celebrated  poet,  to  whom  he 
left  an  estate,  which  poor  Collins  did  not  get  possession 
of  till  his  faculties  were  deranged,  and  he  could  not  en^ 

joy  it.  * 

BLAEU  (William),  an  eminent  printer,  and  publisher 
of  gebgraphical  maps  and  charts,  was  born  at  Amsterdam 

^>      ^  ••    ■  .  •  . 

*  Mackenzie,  vol.  In.— Moreri. 

t  Nichols'!  Bowyer. — LysoQi'i  SnTinras^  roL  lIIf^-WaitoA's  Pkipe'g  Works* 


B  L  A  £  U.  S6»     ) 

in  la71)  and  died  there  in  1638.     He  wa$  the  scholar  and 
friend  of  Tycho-Brahe,  and  applied  himself^  besides  his 
particular  art,  to  the  study  of  geography  and  astronomy. 
When  he  had  formed  the  design  of  his  celebrated  "  Atlas,'* 
he  gave  liberal  prices  to  the  most  experienced  geographers 
and  draughtsmen  for  original  maps,  which  he  procured  to 
be  engraved  with  great  care,  and  all  the  elegance  which 
the  state  of  the  arts  in  his  time  could,  admit     Eager,  how«* 
ever,  as  he  was  to  render  this  work  perfect,  as  he  was 
obliged  to  trust  to  the  incomplete  and  dubious  relations  of 
travellers,  the  work  is  now  valued  chiefly  as  a  beautiful 
specimen  of  engraving,  and  bears  a  considerable  price, 
especially^  when  coloured.     It  was  entitled  the  ^*  Grand 
Atlas  geographique,"  or  **  Theatrum  Mundi ;"  and  includ- 
ing the. celestial  and  hydrographical  maps,  forms  14  vols, 
fol.  1663 — 67,  very  little  of  it  having  been  published  in  his 
life-time,  but  the  whole  completed  by  his  sons.     He  pub- 
lished also,    ^*  Instruction  astronomique    de  Pusage   des 
globes  et  sphere  celestes  et  terrestres,"  Amst.  1642,  4co; 
1669,  4to.     There  was  a  neatness  in  all  his  publications  of  - 
this  description,  which  has  been  rarely  imitated.     An  acci- 
dental fire  'which  destroyed  the  greater  part  of  the  first 
edition  of  the  atlas  and  of  bis  other  works,  rendered  them 
for  some  time  in  great  demand.     His  **  Theatrum  urbium 
et  muniipentorum,'*  was  another  collection  of  views  and 
maps  in  much  esteem.     These  and  other  designs  were  pur- 
sued and  completed  by  his  sons  John  and  Cornelius,  and, 
the  latter  dying  young,  chiefly  by  John,  who  was  also  the 
printer  of  a  great  many  classics,  which  yield  in  beauty 
only  to  the  Elzevirs.     Among  the  geographical  works  of 
John  Blaeu,  are,  1.  *^  Novum  ac  magnum  theatrum  civi- 
tatum  totius  Belgise,''  1649,  2  vols.  fol.     2.  ^^  Civitates  et 
admirandee   ItaliaB,''   1663,   2  vols.  fol.  reprinted  with   a 
French  text,  Amst.  1704,  4  vols.  fol.  and  Hague,    1724. 
3.  <*  Theatrum  Sabaudi®  et  Pedemontii,''    1682,   2  vols, 
fol.  translated  and  published  under  the  title  '^  Theatre  de 
Piemont  e  de  la  Savoie,''  by  James  Bernard,  Hague,  173^, 
a  vols.  fol.     Yossius  and  Grotius  speak  in  high  terms  of  the 
talents  and  industry  of.  John  and  Cornelius  Blaeu.     It  may 
be  noticed  that  John  Blaeu  sometimes  concealed  himself 
under  a  fictitious  name.     His  editio.u  of  ^^  Ery  thraei  Pina- 
cotheca,"  a  work  to  which  we  have  sometimes  referred, 
was  published  with  Cologne  in  the  title  page^  instead  of 
Vol;  V,  B  B 


370  B  L  A  E  U. 

I 

I 

Amsterdam,  and  Jodocus  Kalcovius,  instead  of  John  £Ia- 
vius,  or  Biaeu.  ^ 

BLAGRAVE  (John),  an  eminent  mathematician,  who 
flourished  in  the  16th  and  17th  centuries,  was  the  son  of 
Jbhn  Blagrave,  of  Bulmarsh,  esq.  and  was  born  at  Read- 
ing, but  in  what  year  is  not  known.  He  acquired  the  ru- 
diments of  his  education  at  Reading,  whence  he  removed 
to  St.  John^s  college,-  Oxford,  but  soon  quitted  the  uni- 
versity, and  retired  to  Southcote  Lodge  at  Reading,  where 
he  devoted  his  titne  to  study  and  contemplation.  His 
genius  seemed  to  be  turned  most  to  mathematics ;.  and  that 
he  might  study  this  science  without  interruption,  he  de- 
Voted  himself  to  a  retired  life.  He  employed  himself 
chiefly  in  compiling  such  works  as  might  render  specula- 
tive mathematics  accurate,  and  the  practical  parts  easy. 
He  accordingly  finished  some  learned  and  useful  works,  ia 
all  which  he  proposed  to  render  those  sciences  more  uni- 
versally understood.  He  endeavoured  to  shew  the  useful- 
ness of  sUch  studies,  that  they  were  not  mere  amusements 
for  scholars  and  speculative  persons,  but  of  general  advan- 
tage, and  absolutely  indispensable  in  many  of  the  neces- 
saries and  conveniences  of  life  t  with  this  view  he  published 
the  four  following  works:  1.  "A  Mathematical  Jewel, 
shewing  the  making  and  most  excellent  use  of  an  instru- 
ment so  called  :  the  use  of  which  j^wel  is  so  abundant,  that 
it  leadeth  the  direct  path-way  through  the  whole  art  of 
astronomy,  cosmography,  geography,'*  &c.  1582,  folio. 
2.  ^^  Of  the  making  and  use  of  the  Familiar  Staff,  so  called : 
for  that  it  may  be  made  useful  and  familiarly  to  walk  with, 
as  for  that  it  performeth  the  geometrical  mensuration  of  all 
altitudes,*'  1590,  4to.  3.  ^*  Astrolabium  uranicum  gene- 
rale  ;  a  necessary  and  pleasant  solace  and  recreation  for 
navigators  in  their  long  journeying ;  containing  the  use  of 
an  instrument,  or  astrolabe,"  &c.  1596,  4to.  4.  "The 
art  of  Dialling,  in  two  parts.'*  1609,  4to. 

Blagrave  was  a  man  of  great  beneficence  in  private  life. 
As  he  was  born  in  the  town  of  Reading,  and  bad  spent 
.  most  of  his  time  there,  he  was  therefore  desirous  of  leaving 
in  that  place  some  monuments  of  his  beneficent  disposi- 
tion ;  and  9uch  too  ais  might  have  reference  to  each  of  the 
three  parishes  of  Reading.  He  accordingly  bequeathed  a 
legacy  for  this  purpose,  of  which  we  have  an  account  by 

^  Biog.  Uaivenelle.— Moreri.    Baillet  Jugemens  des  Savans. 


BLAGRAVE.  371 

Ashmole,  in  the  following  words :  *^  You  are  to  not^^  that 
he  doth  devise  that  each  church-warden  should  send  oa 
Good-Friday  one  virtuous  maid  that  has  lived  five  years 
with  her  master:  all  three  maids  appear  at  the  town-hall 
before  the  mayor  and  aldermen,  and  cast  dice.     She  that 
throws  most  has  10/.  put  in  a  purse,  and  she  is  to  be  at-^ 
tended  with  the  other  two  that  lost  the  throw.     The  next 
year  come  again  the  two  maids,  and  one  more  added  to 
them.     He  qrders  in  his  will  that  each  maid  should  have 
three  throws  before  she  loses  it ;  and  if  she  has  no  luck  in 
the  three  years,  he  orders  that  still  new  faces  may  come 
and  be  presented.     On  the  same  Good-Friday  he  gives 
eighty  widows  money  to  atteqd,  and  orders  10^.  for  a  good 
sermon,  and  so  he  wishes  well  to  all  his  countrymen.     It 
is  lucky  money,  for  I  never  heard  but  the  maid  that  had 
the  10/.  suddenly  had  a  good  husband.''     Blagrave  died  at 
his  own  house  near  Reading,  August  9,   1611,  and  lies 
interred  near  his  mother  ir^  the  church  of  St.  Lawrence ; 
with  a  fine  monument  to  his  memory,  and  an  inscription ; 
the  following  account  of  which  is  given  by  Mr.  Asbmole, 
and  remains  still  nearly  correct.     On  the  north  against  the 
wall  is  a  noble  monument,  representing  a  man  under  an 
arch  to  the  middle,  holding  one  hand  on  a  globe,  the  other  ' 
on  a  quadrant.     He  is  habited  in  a  short  cloak,  a  cassock, 
and  a  ruff,  surrounded  with  books  on  each  side  of  hiai« 
Dn  one  side  is  the  figure  of  a  woman  to  the  breasts,  naked^ 
holding  an  instrument  in  her  hand,  as  offering  it  to  him» 
and  under  her  feet  the  word  CUBUS.     On  the  other,  side 
is  another  woman,  somewhat  naked,  though  with  a  scarf 
thrown  closely  round  her,  and  offering  in   like  manner; 
under  her  feet,  TETPAEAPON.     On  the  top  are  two  women 
leaning  on  their  arms,  inscribed  OKTAEAPON,  AXIAEKA* 
EAPON.     In  the  middle,  a  person  armed,  cap-a-pee,  but    . 
npw'  almost  defaced,  entitled  EIK02EAP0N.     And  under 
the  first  figure  mentioned,    an    inscription^  in  an  oval; 
celebrating  his  virtues  in  homely  rhimes.  ^ 

BLAGRAVE  (Joseph),  probably  a  relation  of  the  pre* 
ceding,  was  born  in  the  parish  of  St.  Giles,  Reading,  in 
1610,  and  was  a  great  enthusiast  in  astrological  studies* 
He  published  "  An  introduction  to  Astrology,"  1682,  8vo, 
to  which  is  prefixed  an  engraving  of  him  mentioned  by 

1  Biog^.  Bnt.-^oates*s  Hist,  of  Reading,  wliere  are  many  particulars  jo{  61a- 
fravc's  charities. — Atb.  Ox.  vol.  h — Martin's  Lives  of  the  Philosophers.— 
StrutCs  Diet,  of  Engravers. 

B  B  2 


S72  B  L  A  G  R  A  y  R 

Granger*  He  was  the  author  of  a  large  supplement  ta 
Culpepper's  Herbal;  to  which  is  added  ^*  An  accodrit  of 
all  the  Drugs  that  were  sold  in  the  druggists  and  apothe- 
caries shops,  with  their  dangers  and  connexions.*'  To  this 
book  is  subjoined  "  A  new  tract  of  Chirurgery,"  8vo.  He 
was  also  author  of  "  The  Astrological  practise  of  Physick, 
discovering  the  true  method  of  curing  all  kinds  of  diseases, 
by  such  herbs  and  plants  as  grow  in  our  nation/'  8vo. 
In  the  Biographia  Britannica,  is  an  account  of  a  maou-- 
script  which  had  been  seen  by  Dr.  Campbell,  the  author 
of  that  article,  and  had  been  bought  at  the  sale  of  the  li- 
brary of  an  eminent  physician  neai^  Covent-garden.  In 
the  first  leaf  it  was  said  to  be  written  by  Mr.  J.  Blagrave, 
and  was  dedicatee^  to  Mr.  B.  (Backhouse)  of  Swaliowfield. 
It  appeared,  from  some  mention  of  the  royal  society,  and 
its  members,  to  have  been  written  in  1669,  or  1670.  The 
title  was,  ^^  A  remonstrance  in  favour  of  Ancient  Learning 
against  the  proud  pretensions  of  the  moderns,  more  es- 
pecially in  respect  to  the  doctrine  of  the  Stars."  From 
the  distribution  of  the  several  heads,  and  the  extracts  from 
them,  it  seems  to  be  the  work  of  an  ingenious  writer ;  one 
far  superior  to  Joseph  Blagrave  in  style  and  composition  ; 
and  mighty  possibly,  as  Mr.  Coates  conjectures,  be  an  un- 
published work  of  Mi*.  John  Blagrave,  the  mathematician, 
by  whose  will  he  inherited  an  estate  in  Swallowfield,  yet 
we  know  not  how  to  reconcile  this  with  the  dates  respect* 
ing  the  royal  society,  which  certainly  did  not  exist  in  the 
mathematician's  time.      This  Joseph  Blagrave    died    in 

1679. * 

BLAIR  (Hugh),  D.D.  an  eminent  divine  of  the  church 
of  Scotland,  was  born  at  Edinburgh,  April  7,  1718.  His 
father,  John  Blair,  a  respectable  merchant  in  that  city, 
was  a  descendant  of  the  ancient  family  of  Blair,  in  Ayr- 
shire, and  grandson  of  the  famous  Mr.  Robert  Blair,  mi- 
nister of  St.  Andrew's,  chaplain  to  Charles  I.  and  one  of 
the  most  zealous  and  distinguished  clergymen  of  the  pe- 
riod in  which  he  lived.  Of  the  two  sons  who  survived  him, 
David,  the  eldest,  was  a  clergyman  of  eminence  in  Edin- 
burgh, and  father  to  Mr.  Robert  Blair,  minister  of  Athel- 
Stanford,  the  author  of  the  well-known  poem  entitled 
•*  The  Grave."  From  his  youngest  son,  Hugh,  who  en- 
^l^aged  in  business  as  a  merchant,  and  had  the,  honour  to 

>  Blof.  Brit.  art.  John  Blagrave.— Coates's  HUt.  of  Reading,  p.  49ib 


BLAIR.  373 

fill  a  high  station  in  the  magistracy  of  E4inhurgh^  the  ob- 
ject of  the  present  memoir  descended. 

Dr.  Blair  was  educated  for  the  church,  and  while  he 
prosecuted  his  studies  at  the  college  of  Edinburgh  with 
great  success  and  approbation,  a  circumstance  occurred, 
which  determined  the  bent  of  his  genius  towards  polite 
literature.  Ah  essay  **  On  the  beautiful,"  written  by  him 
when  a  student  of  logic,  in  the  usual  course  of  academical 
exercises,  had  the  good  fortune  to  attract  the  notice  of 
professor  Stevenson,  and  with  circumstances  honourable 
to  the  author,  was  appointed  to  be  read  in  public^  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  session^  a  mark  of  distinction  which  made 
H  deep  impression  on  his  mind. 

At  this  time.  Dr.  Blair  commenced  a^  method  of  study 
which  contributed  much  to  the  accuracy  and  extent  of  his 
Knowledge,  and  which  be  continued  to  practise  occasion- 
ally, even  after  his  reputation  was  fully  established.  It 
consisted  in  making  abstracts  of  the  most  important  works 
which  he  read,  and  in  digesting  them  according  to  the 
train  of  his  own  thoughts.  History,  in  particular,  he  re- 
sglv^d  to  study  in  this  manner ;  and,  in  concert  with  some 
of  his  youthful  associates,  he  constructed  a  very  compre- 
hensive scheme  of  chronological  tables,  for  receiving  into 
its  proper  place  every  important  fact  that  should  occur. 
The  scheme  devised  by  this  young  student  for  his  own 
private  use,  was  afterwards  improved,  filled  up,  and  given 
to  the  public  by  his  learned  friend  Dr.  John  Blair,  prer 
bendary  of  Westminster,  in  his  valuable  work  ^*  The  Chro- 
pology  and  History  of  the  World.'* 

In  1739  Dr.  Blair  took  his  degree  of  A.M.  and  in  1741 
was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  presbytery  of  Edinburgh^ 
and  his  first  living  was  the  parish  of  Colessie,  in  Fife ;  but 
in  1743  he  was  recalled  to  his  native  city,  as  second  mi- 
nister of  the  Canongate  church,  in  which  he  continued 
eleven  years.  In  1754  he  was  translated  from  the  Canon- 
gate  to  lady  Tester's,  one  of  the  city  churches,  and  in 
1758  he  was  promoted  to  the  high  church  of  Edinburgh, 
the  most  important  ecclesiastical  charge  in  that  kingdom. 

Hitherto  his  attention  seems  to  have  been  devoted  almost 
exclusively  to  the  attainment  of  professions^l  excellence, 
and  to  the  regular  discharge  of  his  parochial  duties.  No 
production  of  his  pen  had  yet  been  given  to  the  world 
by  himself,  except  two  occasional  seroapns,  spme  trai^s- 
Jations  in  v^rse  of  passages  of  Scripture  for  the  psa.lmpdy 


374  B  L  A  I  R. 

of  the  church,  akid'  a  few  articles  in  the  Edinburgh  Re- 
view, a  publication  begun  in  1755,  and  conducted  for  a 
short  time  by  some  of  the  .ablest  men  in  that  kingdom. 
But,  standing  as  he  now  did,  at  the  head  of  his  profes* 
sion,  and  released  by  the  labour  of  former  years  from  what 
bis  biographer,  rather  incautiously,  calls  the  drudgery  of 
weekly  preparation  for  the  pulpit,  he  began  to  think  se- 
riously on  a  plan  for  teaching  to  others  that  art  which  had 
contributed  so  much  to  the  establishment  of  his  own  fame. 
With  this  view  he  communicated  to  his  friends  a  scheme 
cf  lectures  on  composition ;  and  having  obtained  the  ap- 
probation of  the  university,  he  began  to  read  them  in  the 
college  on  the  11th  of  December,  1759.  Before  this,  he 
had  received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  the  university  of 
St.  Andrew's,  a  literary  honour  which  at  that  time  was  very 
rare  in  Scotland.  His  first  course  of  lectures  were  so 
much  approved,  that  the  patrons  of  the  university,  con- 
vinced that  they  would  form  a  valuable  addition  to  the 
system  of  education,  agreed  in  the  following  summer  to 
institute  a  rhetorical  class  under  his  direction,  as  a  perma- 
nent part  of  their  academical  establishment ;  and  on  the 
7th  of  April,  1762,  his  majesty  was  graciously  pleased 
*'  To  erect  and  endow  a  professorship  of  rhetoric  and  belles 
lettres  in  the  university  of  Edinburgh,  and  to  appoint  Dr. 
Blair,  in  consideration  of  his  approved  qualifications,  re^ 
gius  professor  thereof^  with  a  salary  of  70/."  These  lec- 
tures he  published  in  1783,  when  he  retired  from  the 
labours  of  the  office ;  and  the  general  voice  of  the  public 
has  pronounced  them  to  be  a  most  judicious,  elegant,  and 
Comprehensive  system  of  rules  for  forming  the  style,  and 
cultivating  the  taste  of  youth. 

About  this  time  he  was  employed  in  <^  rescuing  from 
oblivion  the  poems  of  Ossian."  The  controversy  rie- 
specting  the  authenticity  of  these  poems  is  well  known. 
The  biographer  of  Dr.  Blair  asserts  that  it  was  by  the  so- 
licitation of  Dr.  Blair  and  Mr.  John  Home  (the  author  of 
Douglas),  that  Mr.  Macpherson  was  induced  to  publish  his 
^*  Fragments  of  Ancient  Poetry,"  and  that  their  patronage 
was  of  essential  service  in  procuring  the  subscription  which 
enabled  him  to  undertake  his  tour  through  the  Highlands 
for  collecting  the  materials  of  Fingal,  and  of  those  other 
productions  which  bear  the  name  of  Ossian.  To  these, 
in  1763,  Dr.  Blair  prefixed  a  **  Dissertation"  of  the  cri- 
tical kind^  which  pro^qred  him  much  reputation,  what-? 


BLAIR.  37^ 

ever  may  be  thought  of  the  subject.    The  great  objects  of 
his  literary  ambition  being  now  attained,  his  talents  were 
for  many  years  consecrated  solely  to  the  important  and 
peculiar    employments    of    his   station.      But   his    chief 
fame  was  yet  te  rest  upon  the  publication  of  his  sermons, 
and  the  fate  of  them  furnishes  a  singular  instance  of  the 
vicissitudes  of  literary  history.     His  biographer,  howerer, 
relates   this  without    any  of  the  circumstances  that  are 
most  interesting.     He  contents  himself  with  saying  that 
^'  It  was  not  till  the  year  1777  that  he  could  be  induced  to 
favour  the  world  with  a  volume  of  the  sermons  which  had 
so  long  furnished  instruction  and  delight  to  his  own  con* 
gregation.     But  this  volume  being  well  received^  the  pub* 
lie  approbation  encouraged  him  to  proceed ;  three  other 
volumes  followed  at  different  intervals ;  and  all  of  iheok 
experienced  a  degree  of  success  of  which  fe^  publications 
can  boast.  ,  They  circulated  rapidly  and  widely  wherever 
the  English  tongue  extends ;   they  were  soon  translated 
into  almost  all  the  languages  of  Europe;  and  hispi*6seht 
majesty,  with  that  wise  attention  to  the  interests  of  religion 
and  literature  which  distinguishes  his  reign,  was  graciously 
pleased  to  judge  them  worthy  of  a  public  reward.     By  a 
royal  mandate  to  the  exchequer  in  Scotland,  dated  July 
25th,   1780,  ^pension  of  200/.  a  year  was  Conferred  on. 
their  author,  which  continued  unaltered  till  his  death." 

Mr.  Boswell,  iu  his  ^^  Life  of  Dr.  Johnson,"  informs  us 
that  Dr.  Blair  transmitted  the  manuscript  of  his  first  vo-^ 
}ume  of  sermons  to  Mr.  Strahan,  the  king's  printer,  who, 
lifter  keeping  it  for  some  time,  wrote  a  letter  to  him,  dis- 
couraging the  publication.  Such  at  first  was  the  unpro- 
pitious  state  of  one  of  th<^  most  successful  theological  books 
that  has  ever  appeared.  Mr.  Strahan,  however,  had  seht 
one  of  the  sermons  to  Dr^  Johnson,  for  his  opinion ;  and 
after  his  unfavourable  letter  to  Dr.  Blair  had  been  sent  off, 
he  received  from  Johnson  on  Christmas-eve,  1776,  a  note 
in  which  was  the  following  paragraph  :  '^  I  have  read  over 
Dr.  Blair's  first  sermon  with  more  than  approbation ;  to 
say  it  is  good,  is  to  say  too  little."  Mr.  Strahan  had  very 
soon  after  this  time,  a  conversation  with  Dr.  Johnson  cou« 
cerning  them ;  and  then  he  very  candidly  wrote  again  40 
Dr.  Blair,  enclosing  Johjison*s  note,  and  agreeing  to  pur-» 
chase  the  volume,  for  which  he  and  Mr.  Cadell  gave  ono 
hundred  pounds.  The  sale  was  so  rapid  and  extensive, 
gnd  -the  apprQbation  .of  the  public  so  high,  that^  to  tbeiir 


876  BLAIR. 

botiQur  be  it  recorded^  the  proprietors  made  Dr.  Blair  a 
present^  first  of  one  sum,  and  afterwards  of  another,  of 
fifty  pounds ;  thus  voluntarily  doubling  the  stipulated 
price ;  and  when  he  prepared  another  volume,  they  gave 
him  at  once  three  hundred  pounds ;  and,  we  believe,  for 
the  others  he  had  six  hundred  pounds  each.  A  fifth  vo- 
lume was  prepared  by  him  for  the  press,  and  published 
after  his  death,  ISOl,  to  which  is  added  a  ^^  Short  account 
of  his  Life"  by  James  Finlayson,  D.  D.  of  which  we  have 
availed  ourselves  in  the  preceding  account.  The  sermons 
contained  in  this  last  volume  were  composed  at  very^ dif- 
ferent periods  of  his  life,  but  were  all  written  out  anew 
in  his  own  hand,  and  in  many  parts  re»com.posed,  during 
the  course  of  the  summer  1800,  after  he  had  completed 
his  eighty-second  year. 

In  April  1748  he  married  his  cousin,  Katherine  Ban- 
natine,  daughter  of  the  rev.  James  Bannatine,  one  of 
.  the  ministers  of  Edinburgh.  By  h^r  he  had  a  son,  who 
died  in  infancy,  and  a  daughter,  who  lived  to  her  twenty- 
first  year.  Mrs.  Blair  died  a  few  years  before  her  husband, 
after  she  hard  shared  with  the  tenderest  affection  in  all  his 
fortunes,  and  contributed  near  half  a  century  to  his  hap- 
piness and  comfort. 

Dr.  Blair  had  been  naturally  of  a  feeble  constitution  of 
body,  but,  as  he  grew  up,  it  acquired  greater  firmness  and 
vigour.  Though  liable  to  occasional  attacks  from  some  of 
the  sharpest  and  most  painful  diseases  that  afBict  the  hu- 
man frame,  he  enjoyed  a  general  state  of  good  health ; 
and,  through  habitual  cheerfulness,  temperance,  and  care, 
survived  the  usual  term  of  human  life.  For  some  years 
Le  felt  himself  unequal  to  the  fatigue  of  instructing  his 
very  large  congregations  from  the  pulpit ;  and  under  the 
impression  which  this  feeling  produced,  he  was  heard  at 
times  to  say,  <^  that  he  was  left  almost  the  last  of  his  con- 
temporaries.!' Yet  he  continued  to  the  end  in  the  regular 
discharge  of  all  his  other  ofBcial  duties,  and  particularly 
in  giving  advice  to  the  afflicted,  who,  from  different  quar- 
ters of  the  kingdom,  solicited  his  correspondence.  His 
last  summer  was  devoted  to  the  preparation  of  the  fifth 
volume  of  his  sermons ;  and,  in  the  course  of  it,  he  ex- 
hibited a  vigour  of  understanding,  and  capacity  of  exer- 
tion, equal  to  that  of  his  best  days.  He  began  the  winter 
pleased  with  himself,  on  account  of  the  completion  of  this 
work ;  and  his  friends  were  flattered  with  the  hope  thai  hn 


B  L  A  I  R.  ill 

mglit  live  to  enjoy  the  accession  of  emolument  and  fame 
which  he  expected  it  would  bring.  But  the  seeds  of  a 
mortal  disease  were  lurking  unperceived  within  him.  On 
the  '24tb  of  December  1800,  he  complained  of  a  pain  in 
his  bowels,  which,  during  that  and  the  following  day,  gave 
him  but  little  uneasiness ;  and  he  received  as  usual  the 
visits  of  his  friends.  On  the  afternoon  of  the  26th,  the 
symptoms  became  violent  and  alarming ;  he  felt  that  he 
was  approaching  the  end  of  his  appointed  course;  and, 
retaining  to  the  last  moment  the  full  possession  of  his 
mental  faculties,  he  expired  on  the  morning  of  the  27th, 
universally  lamented  through  the  city  which  he  had  so  long 
instructed  and  adorned. 

Aldiough  the  popularity  of  Dr.  Blair's  *^  Sermons'*  ex- 
ceeds all  that  we  read  of  in  the  history  of  literature,  yet  it 
does  not  appear  to  us  to  be  of  that  species  arising  from 
judgment  as  well  as  taste,  which  leads  to  permanent  re- 
putation. They  happened  to  hit  the  taste  of  the  age,  to 
whom  compositions  so  highly  polished,  were  some\yhat 
new ;  and  they  were  introduced  by  that  fashionable  pa- 
tronage which  common  readers  find  irresistible.  They 
differ  from  all  other  compositions  under  the  same  title, 
in  being  equally  adapted  to  readers  of  every  class ;  and 
they  were  recommended  to  the  perusal  of  the  young  of 
every  religious  persuasion,  as  containing  nothing  that  could 
interfere  with  their  opinions.  Their* character  is  that  of 
moral  discourses,  but  as  such  they  never  could  have  at- 
tained their  popularity  without  that  high  polish  of  style 
.which  was  the  author's  pecuhar  object.  Under  this  are 
concealed  all  the  defects  which  attach  to  them  as  ser- 
mons, a  name  which  they  can  never  deserve  when  com- 
pared with  the  works  of  the  most  eminent  English  and 
Scotch  divines.  It  may  be  doubted,  therefore,  whether 
his  *^  Lectures'*  will  not  prolong  his  fame  to  a  much  latet 
period.  Although  he  possessed  a  sound  judgment  rather 
than  a  vigorous  mind,  and  had  more  taste  than  genius, 
yet,  perhaps,  on  the  former  account  his  lectures  may  al- 
ways be  recommended  as  an  useful  introduction  to  polite 
literature.  "  They  contain,"  'says  an  excellent  critic; 
**  an  accurate  analysis  of  the  principles  of  literary  compo- 
sition, in  all  the  various  species  of  writing ;  a  happy  illus- 
tration of  those  principles  by  the  most  beautiful  and  appo- 
site examples,  drawn  from  the  best  authors  both  ancient 
md  modern  ^  and  an  admirable  digest  of  the  rules  of  elo- 


i7S  BLAIR* 

cation,  as  applicable  to  the  oratory  of  the  pulpit,  the  bar^ 
and  the  popular  assembly.  They  do  not  aim  at  the  cha^ 
racter.  of  a  work  purely  original ;  for  this,  as  the  anthor 
justly  considered,  would  have  been  to  circumscribe  their 
utility;  neither  in  point  of  style  are  they  polished  with 
the  same  degree  of  care  that  the  author  has  bestowed  on 
some  of  his  other  works,  as  for  example,  his  '^  Sermons.** 
Yet,  so  useful  is  the  object  of  these  lectures,  so  compre^ 
hensive  their  plan,  and  such  the  excellence  of  the  matter 
they  contain,  that,  if  not  the  most  splendid,  they  will, 
perhaps,  prove  the  most  durable  monument  of  their  author's 
reputation,"  * 

BLAIR  (James,  M.  A.)  was  born  and  bred  in  Scotland, 
and  ordained  and  beneficed  in  the  episcopal  church  there ; 
but  meeting  with  some  discouragements  under  an  unsettled 
state  of  affairs*  and  having  a  proapect  of  discharging  his 
ministerial  function  more  usefully  elsewhere,  he  quitted 
bi^  preferments,  and  came  into  England  near  the  end  of 
Charles  the  Second's  reign*  It  was  not  long  before  he 
was  taken  i^fcice  of  by  Compton,  bishop  of  London,  who 
prevail/e.d  ^vith  him  to  go  as  missionary  to  Virginia,  about 
1683;  where,  by  exemplary  conduct,  and  unwearied  la- 
bours in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  be  did  good  service  to 
religion,  and  gained  to  himself  a  good  report  amongst  all: 
$0  that  bishop  Compton  being  well  apprised  of  his  worth, 
inade  choice  of  hinr,  about  1689,  as  his  commissary  for 
Virginia,  the  highest  office  in  the  church  there;  which, 
however,  did  not  take  him  off  from  his  pastoral  care,  but 
only  rendered  him  the  more  shining  example  of  it. to  the 
rest  of  the  clergy. 

While  his  thoughts  were  intent  upon  doing  good  in  his 
oiBce,  he  observed  with  concern  that  the  want  of  schools, 
and  proper  seminaries  for  religion  and  learning,  so  im- 
peded all  attempts  for  the  propagation  of  the  gospel,  that 
liitle  could  be  hoped  for,  without  first  removing  that  ob^ 
$tacle.  He  therefore  formed  a. vast  design  of  erecting  and 
endowing  a  college  in  Virginia,  at  Williamsburgh,  the 
capital  of  that  country,  for  professors  and  students  ir^ 
9K:ademical  learning :  in  order  to  which,  he  had  himself 
set  on  foot  a  voluntary  subscription,  amounting  to  a  great 
sum ;  and,  not  content  with  that,  came  over  into  England 
in  1693,  to  solicit  the  affair  at  cdurt.     Queen  Mary  waa 

1  Life  ai  aboTC— Tytler^s  Life  of  lord  Kaimes.-^Bo!Sweli's  LiCe  of  Johjuoa^ 


B  L  A  I  R.  ii9 

so  well  pleaded  with  the  noble  design^  that  she  espbiised  it 
with  a  pacticular  zeal ;  and  king  William  also  very  readily 
concurred  with  her  in  it.  Accordingly  a  patent  passed  for 
erecting  and  endowing  a  college,  by  the  name  of  the  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  college;  and  Mr.  Blair,  who  had  the  principaL 
hand  in  laying,  soliciting,  and  concerting  the  design,  was  ap«- 
pointed  president  of  the  college.  He  was  besides  rector  of 
Williamsburgh  in  Virginia,  and  president  of  the  council  in 
that  colony.  He  continued  president  of  the  college  near  fiftyj 
and  a  minister  of  the  gospel  above  sixty  years.  He  was  a 
feithful  labourer  in  God's  vineyard,  an  ornament  to  his 
profession,  and  his  several  offices ;  and  in  a  good  old  age 
went  to  enjoy  the  high  prize  of  his  calling,  in  the  year  1743. 
His  works  are :  ^^  Our  Saviour's  divine  sermon  on  the 
mount,  explained ;  and  the  practice  of  it  recommended 
in  divers  sermons  and  discourses,"  Lond.  1742,  4  vols.  8va. 
The  executors  of  Dr.  Bray  (to  whom  the  author  had  pre«- 
Viously  transferred  his  copy-right)  afterwards  published  a 
new  impression,  revised  and  corrected.  Dr.  Waterland^ 
who  wrote  a  preface  to  the  new  edition,  calif  these  ser« 
mons  a  ^^  valuable  treasure  of  sound  divinity  and  practical 
Christianity."  * 

BLAIR  (John),  a  monk  of  the  order  of  St.  Benedict, 
was  born  in  the  county  of  Fife,  in  Scotland,  in  the  reign 
of  king  Alexander  III.  and  educated  with  the  celebrated 
sir  William  Wallace,  at  the  school  o*f  Dundee.  He  then 
went  over  to  France,  where  he  studied  for  some  time  in 
the  university  of  Paris,  and  became  a  monk  of  the  ordev 
of  St.  Benedict.  On  bis  return  to  Scotland,  he  found  bis 
(U)untry  in  great  confusion,  owing  to  the  death  of  Alex-* 
ander  III.  without  issue,  and  the  contests  of  various  com- 
petitors for  the  throne.  At  first,  therefore,  he  retired  to 
the  house  of  the  Benedictines  at  Dumfermline ;  but  when 
sir  William  Wallace  was  made  governor  or  viceroy  of  the 
kingdom  in  1294,  Blair  became  his  chaplain,  and  being 
by  this  means  an  eye-witness  of  most  of  his  actions,  he 
composed  the  history  of  his  life  in  Latin  verse.  Of  this  a 
fragment  only  is  left,  which  was  copied  by  sir  James  Bal- 
four out  of  the  Cottonian  library,  and  published  in  1705, 
by  sir  Robert  Sibbald,  the  celebrated  botanist.  It  ap- 
pears to  have  been  written:  in  1327;  and  what  remains  is 
translated  in  Hume's  ^^  History  of  the  Douglasses."  Blair^' 

I  From  the  last  edition  of  this  Diet.  1784.-*Barnet's  Own  Times. — Humphrey's 
^iSL  Account,  p.  9.  10, 


SSO  BLAIR. 

the  exact  period  of  whose  death  is  uncertain,  is  sometimes 
called  John,  and  sometimes  Arnold,  which  latter  name  he 
is  said  to  have  adopted  when  he  retired  into  his  monastery, 
and  which  is  also  used  by  sir  Robert  Sibbald  in  his  ^^  Re- 
lationes  qusdam  Arnoldi  Blair  monachi  de  Dumfermeleoi 
et  Capellani  D.  Wiileimi  Wallas  Miiitis.  Cum  Comment.'* 
Edinb.  1705,  8vo.* 

BLAIR  (John),  was  educated  at  Edinhurgh,  and  was, 
as  already  noticed,  related  to  Dr.  Hugh  Blair.  He  came 
to  London  in  company  with»Andrew  Henderson,  a  volumi- 
nous writer,  who,  in  his  title-pages  styled  himself  A.  M. 
and  for  some  years  kept  a  bookseller's  shop  in  Westmin**. 
ster-hall.  Henderson^s  first  employment  was  that  of  an 
usher  at  a  school  in  Hedge-lane,  in  which  he  was  suc-^ 
ceeded  by  bis  friend  Blair,  who,  in  1754,  obliged  the 
world  with  a  valuable  publication  under  the  title  of  *^  The 
<Aronology  and  history  of  the  world,  from  the  creation  ta 
the  year  of  Christ  1753.  Illustrated  in  fifty-six  tables ;  of 
which  four  are  introductory,  and  contain  the  centuries 
prior  to  the** first  olympiad;  and  each  of  the  remaining 
fifty -two  contain  in  one  expanded  view  fifty  years,  or  half 
a  century.  By  the  rev.  John  Blair,  LL.D."  This  vo- 
lume, which  is  dedicated  to  lord  chancellor  Hardwicke, 
was  published  by  subscription,  on  account  of  the  great 
expence  of  the  plates,  for  which  the  author  apologized  in 
Jiis  preface,  where  he  acknowledged  great  obligations  to 
the  earl  of  Bath,  and  announced  some  chronological  dis* 
"^ertations,  in  which  he  proposed  to  illustrate  the  disputed 
points,  to  explain  the  prevailing  systems  of  chronology, 
and  to  establish  the  authorities  upon  which  some  of  tba 
particular  seras  depend.  In  Dr.  Hugh  Blair's  life,  it  has 
been  noticed  that  this  work  was  partly  projected  by  him. 
In  January  1755,  Dr.  John  Blair  was  elected  F.  R.  S.  and 
in  1761,  F.A.S.  In  1756  he  published  a  second  edition 
of  his  Chronological  Tables.  In  Sept.  1757,  he  was  ap- 
pointed chaplain  to  the  princess  dowager  of  Wales,  and 
mathematical  tutor  to  the  duke  of  York;  and,  on  .Dr^ 
Townshend's  promotion  to  the  deanry  of  Norwich,  the  ser- 
vices of  Dr.  Blair  were  rewarded,  March  10,  1761,  with 
a  prebendal  stall  at  Westminster.  The  vicarage  of  Hinck- 
ley happening  to  fall  vacant  six  days  after,  by  the  death 
of  Dr.  Morres,  Dr.  Blair  was  presented  to  it  by  the  dean  ^ 

}  Ifacken^ie's  Scetf  Writers^  yoL  I^ 


BLAIR.  m 

Biid  chapter  of  Westminster ;  and  in  August  that  year  he 
obtained  a  dispensation  to  hold  with  it  the  rectory  of  Bur- 
ton Goggles,  in  Lincolnshire.  In  September  1763,  he 
attended  his  royal  pupil  the  duke  of  York  in  a  tour  to  the 
continent ;  had  the  satisfaction  of  visiting  Lisbon,  GibraU 
tar,  Minorca,  most  of  the  principal  cities  in  Italy,  and 
several  parts  of  France ;  and  returned  with  the  duke  id 
August  1764.  In  1768  he  published  an  improved  edition 
of  his  Chronological  Tables,  which  he  dedicated  to  the 
princess  of  Wales,  who  had  expressed  her  early  appro- 
bation of  the  former  edition.  To  the  edition  were  an- 
nexed fourteen  maps  of  ancient  and  modern  geography, 
for  illustrating  the  tables  of  chronology  and  history.  To 
which  is  prefixed  a  dissertation  on  the  progress  of  geo- 
graphy. In  March  1771  he  was  presented  by  the  dean 
and  chapter  of  Westminster  to  the  vicarage  of  St.  Bride's, 
in  the  city  of  London ;  which  made  it  necessary  for  him 
to  resign  Hinckley,  where  he  had  never  resided  for  iiny 
length  of  time.  On  the  death  of  Mr.  Sims,  in  April  1776, 
lie  resigned  St.  Bride's,  and  was  presented  to  the  rectory 
of  St.  John  the  Evangelist  in  Westminster ;  arid  in  June 
that  year  obtained  a  dispensation  to  hold  the  rectory  of  St. 
John  with  that  of  Horton,  near  Colebrooke,  Bucks.  His 
brother,  captain  Blair  ^,  falling  gloriously  in  the  service 
of  his  country  in  the  memorable  sea-fight  of  April  12,  1 782, 
the  shock  accelerated  the  doctor's  death.  He.had  at  the 
same  time  the  influenza  in  a  severe  degree,  which  put  a 
period  to  his  life  June  24,  1782.  His  library  was  sold  by 
auction  December  11 — 13,  1781  ;  and  a  course  of  his 
**  Lectures  on  the  canons  of  the  Old  Testament,"  has  since 
appeared.^ 

BLAIR  (Patrick),  an  ingenious  Scotch  botanist,  was 
a  practitioner  of  physic  and  surgery  at  Dundee,  where  he 
made  himself  first  known  as  an  anatomist,  by  tHe  dissec- 
tion of  an  elephant,  which  died  near  that  place,  in  1706. 
He  was  a  nonjuror,  and  for  his  attadiment  to  the  exiled 
family  of  Stuart,  was  imprisoned,  in  the  rebellion  in  1715, 
AS  a  susjieeted  person.     He  afterwards  removed  to  London, 

*  This  able  officer,  for  his  gallant  distinguishing  himself  under  sir  George 

oondact  in  tbe  Dolphin  frigate  in  the  Rodney,  be  fell  in  the  bed  of  honour, 

iBttgagement  with   the  Dutch  on   the  and  became  one  of  three  heroes,  to 

Bogger  Bank,  August  5,  1781,    was  whom  their  country,  by  its  representa« 

promoted  to  tbe  command  of  tbe  An-  tives,  voted  a  monament. 
.•on,  a  pew  ship  of  64  guns.  By  bravely 

^  Nichols's  Hist,  of  Hinckley. 


S8^  BLAIR. 

wbere  he  recommended  himself  to  the  royal  society  hy 
some  discourses  on  the  sexes  of  flowers.  His  stay  in  Lon* 
4on  was  not  long,  and  after  leaving  it,  he  settled  at  Boston, 
in  Lincolnj^hire,  wbere  Dr.  Pulteney  conjectures  that  he 
practised  physic  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  The 
time  of  his  decease  is  not  known,  but  it  is  supposed  to 
have  taken  place  soon  after  the  publication  of  the  seventh 
Decad  of  his  **  Pharmaco-Botanolpgia,"  in  1728.  Dr. 
Blair^s  first  publication  was  entitled  "  Miscellaneous  ob- 
servations in  Physic,  Anatomy,  Surgery,  and  Botanips,'* 
1718,  8vo.  In  the  botanical  part  of  this  work  he  in- 
sinuates some  doubts  relating  to  the  method  suggested  by 
Petiver,  and  others,  of  deducing  the  qualities  of  vege- 
tables from  the  agreement  in  natural  characters,  and  in- 
stances the  Cynoglossum,  as  tending^  to  prove  the  fallacy 
of  this  rule.  But  the  work  by  which  he  rendered  the 
greatest  service  to  botany,  originated  with  his  ^^  Discourse 
on  the  Sexes  of  Plants,"  read  before  the  royal  society, 
and  afterwards  greatly  amplified,  and  published  at  the  re- 
quest of  several  members  of  that  body,  under  the  title  of 
**  Botanic  Essays,'*  1720,  8vo,  in  which  he  strengthened 
the  arguments  in  proof*  of  the  sexes  of  plants,  by  sound 
reasoning,  and  some  new  experiments.  He  published 
also,  '^  Pharmaco-botanologia,  or  an  alphabetical  and 
classical  dissertation  on  ail  the  British  indigenous  and 
garden  plants  of  the  new  dispensatory,"  Lond.  1723 — 28, 
4to,  but  this  work  extends  only  to  the  letter  tf .  Dn 
Blair  wrote  some  papers  in  the  Philosophical  Transac- 
tions, particularly  his  anatomy  and  osteology  of  the  ele- 
phant, &c.,' 

BLAIR  (Robert),  a  Scotch  divine  and  poet,  was  the 
eldest  son  of  the  rev.  David  Blair,  one  of  the  ministers 
of  Edinburgh,  and  chaplain  to  the  king.  His  grandfather 
was  the  rev.  Robert  Blair,  some  time  minister  of  the  gospel 
at  Bangor,  in  Ireland,  and  afterward  at  St.  Andrew's,  in 
Scotland.  Of  this  gentleman,  some  '^  Memoirs,"  partly 
taken  from  his  manuscript  diaries,  were  published  at  Edin- 
burgh, in  1754.  He  was  celebrated  for  his  piety,. and  by 
those  of  his  persuasion,  for  his  inflexible  adherence  to 
presbyterianism,  in  opposition  to  the  endeavours  made  in 
bis  time  to  establish  episcopacy  in  Scotland.  It  is  recorded 
also  that  he  wrote  some  poems.     His  grandson,  the  object 

»  Pulteney'8  Sketches,  vol.  U. 


BLAIR.  S$3 

of  the  present  article,  was  born  in  tbe  year  1699,  and 
after  the  usual  preparatory  studies,  was  ordained  minister 
of  Athelstaneford,  in  the  county  of  East  Lothian,  wbeife 
he  resided  until  lijs  death,  Feb.  4,  1747.  The  late  right 
iion.  Robert  Blair,  president  of  the  court  of  session  in 
Scotland,  who  died  in  1311,  was  one  of  his  sons,  and  the 
late  celebrated  Dr.  Hugh  Blair,  professor  of  rhetoric  and 
belles-lettres,  was  his  cousin. 

Such  are  the  onlyparticulars  handed  down'to  us  respecting 
the  writer  of  **  the  Grave.*'  It  is  but  lately  that  the  poem 
was  honoured  with  much  attention,  and  appears  to  have 
made  its  way  very  slowly  into  general  notice.  The  pious 
and  congenial  Hervey  was  among  the  first  who  praised  it. 
Mr.  Pinkerton  in  his  "  Letters  of  Literature,"  published 
under  tbe  name  of  Heron,  endeavoured  to  raise  it  far  above 
the  level  of  common  productions,  and  it  has  of  late  years 
been  frequently  reprinted ;  but  it  may  be  questioned  whe- 
ther it  will  bear  a  critical  examination.  It  has  no  regular 
plan,  nor  are  the  reflections  on  mortality  embellished  by 
any  superior  graces.  It  is  perhaps  a  stronger  objection 
that  they  are  interrupted  by  strokes  of  feeble  satire  at  the 
expence  of  physicians  and  undertakers.  His  expressions 
'  are  often  mean,  and  his  epithets  ill-chosen  and'  degrading, 
"supernumerary  horror;''  **  new-made  widow;"  *^  sooty 
blackbird;"  "strong- lunged  cherub;"  "  lame  kindness," 
&c.  &c.  **  solder  of  society ;"  "  by  stronger  arm  bela- 
boured ;"  **  great  gluts  of  people,"  &c.  are  vulgarisms  which 
cannot  be  pardoned  in  so  short  a  production. 

**  The  Grave"  is  said  to  have  been  first  printed  at  Edin- 
burgh in  1747,  but  this  is  a  mistake.  It  was  printed  in 
1743  at  London,  for  M.  Cooper.  The  author  had  pre- 
viously submitted  it  to  Dr.  Watts,  who  informed  him  that 
two  booksellers  had  declined  the  risk  of  publication.  He 
had  likewise  corresponded  with  Dr.  Doddridge  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  in  a  letter  to  that  divine,  says,  that  "  in  order  to 
make  it  more  generally  liked,  he  was  obliged  sometimes  to 
go  cross  to  his  own  inclination,  well  knowing  that  what* 
ever  poem  is  written  upon  a'serious  argument,  must  upon 
that  very  account  lie  under  peculiar  disadvantages ;  and 
therefore  proper  arts  must  be  used  to  make  such  a  piece  go 
down  with  a  licentious  age  which  cares  for  none  of  those 
things."  In  what  respect  he  crossed  his  inclination,  and 
by  what  arts  he  endeavoured  to  make  his  poem  more  ac- 
ceptable to  a  licentious  age,  we  know  not.     In  defence  of 


3S4  B  L  A  I  K. 

the  present  age,  it  may  be  said  with  justice  that  the  poem 
o^es  its  popularity  to  its  subject,  and  that  notwithstanding 
its  defects,  it  will  probably  be  a  lasting  favourite  with  per* 
sons  of  a  serious  turn. ' 

BLAKE  (John  Buadley),  a  gentleman  who  was  cut. off 
early  in  life,  but  whose  progress  and  improvements  in  na- 
tural knowledge  were  s'o  great,  that  the  editors  of  the  se- 
cond edition  of  the  Biographia  Britannica  have  thought  him 
entitled  to  an  honourable  place  in  their  work,  was  the  sou 
of  John  Blake,  esq.  and  born  in  London,  Nov.  4,  1745; 
educated  at  Westminster  school ;  afterwards  instructed  in 
mathematics,  chemistry,  and  drawing :  but  botany  was  his 
favourite  object,  in  which  he  made  a  great  progress.  With 
these  advantages  he  set  out  in  life,  and  in  1766  was  sent  as 
one  of  the  East  India  company^s  supercargoes  at  Canton 
in  China :  where  he  was  no  sooner  fixed,  than  he  resolved 
to  employ  every  moment  of  his  time,  which  could  be  spared 
from  the  duties  of  his  station,  to  the  advancement  of  na-^ 
tural  science  for  the  benefit  of  his  countrymen.  His  plan 
was,  to  procure  the  seeds  of  all  the  vegetables  found  in 
China,  which  are  used  in  medicine,  manufactures,  and 
food  ;  and  to  send  into  Europe  not  only  such  seeds,  but  the 
plants  by  which  they  were  produced,  that  they  might  be 
propagated  either  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  or  in  those 
colonies  of  America,  the  soil  and  climate  of  which  might 
suit  them  best.  But  it  was  not  to  botanic  subjects  alone, 
that  Mr. Blake's  genius  was  confined:  he  had  begun  to 
collect  fossils  and  ores ;  and  he  now  attended  as  much  to 
mineralogy,  as  he  had  done  to  botany. 

It  would  exceed  the  limits  of  our  plan,  to  relate  particu- 
larly what  he  did  in  both,  but  he  is  supposed  to  have  sacri- 
ficed his  life  to  the  closeness  and  ardour  of  his  pursuits. 
By  denying  himself  the  needful  recreations,  and  by  sitting 
too  intensely  to  his  drawing  and  studies,  he  brought  on  a 
gravelly  complaint ;  and  this  increasing  to  the  stone,  and 
being  accompanied  with  a  fever,  carried  him  off  at  Canton 
Nov.  16,  1773,  in  his  29th  year.  The  friends  of  natural 
knowledge  in  Engltind  were  preparing  to  have  him  enrolled 
among  the  members  of  the  royal  society,  when  the  news  of 
his  death  arrived ;  when  sir  John  Pringle,  the  president^ 
took  an  opportunity  of  making  hiseloge,  and  lamented  the 
loss  of  turn  very  pathetically,  as  a  public  misfortune.* 

^  Eoglish  Po€U^  edit  1810|  21  Tols.^Letten  to  and  from  Dr.  Doddcidgo^ 
17^0,  p.  253.  t  Biof .  Brit, 


SLAKE.  395 

,  BLAKEJ  (Robert),  a  celebrated  English  admiral,  waa 
botn  August  1599,  at  Bridgewater,  in  Somersetshire,  where 
he  was  educated  at  the  grammar*schooL     He  went  from 
thence  to  Oxford,  and  was  entered  at  St.  Alban^s  hall,  but 
removed  to  Wadbam  college,  and  in  1617  took  the  degree 
of  B.  A.     In  1623  he  wrote  a  copy  of  verses  on  the  death 
of  Camden,  and  soon  after  left  the  university.     He  was 
tinctured  pretty  early  with  repubUcan  principles ;  and  dis- 
liking that  severity  with  which  Laud,  then  bishop  of  Bath 
and  Wells,  pressed  uniformity  in  his  diocese,  he  began  to 
fall  into  the  puritanical  opinions.     The  natural  bluntness 
and  sincerity  'of  his  disposition  led  him  to  speak  freely  upoa 
all  occasions,  insomuch  that,  his  sentiments  being  gene- 
rally known,  the  puritan  party  got  him  elected  member 
for  Bridgewater  in  1640i,    When  the  civil  war  broke  out> 
he  declared  for  the  parliament.    In  1643  he  was  at  Bristol^ 
under  the  command  of  col.  Fiennes,  who  intrusted  him  with 
^  little  fort  on  the  line ;  and,  when  prince  Rupert  attacked 
Bristol,  and  the  governor  had  agreed  to  surrender  it  upon 
il^rticles,  Blake  nevertheless  for  some  time  held  out  his  fort^ 
and  killed  several  of  the  king's  forces :  which  exasperated 
prince  Rppert  to  such  a  degree,  that  he  talked  of  hanging 
nim,  had  not  some  friends  interposed,  and  excused  him  oa 
account  of  his  want  of  experience  in  war.     He  served  af- 
terwards in  Somersetshire,  under  the  command  of  Popham, 
governor  of  Lyme;  and,  being  much  beloved  in   those 
parts,  he  had  such  good  intelligence  there,  that  in  con- 
junction with  sir  Robert  Pye,  he  surprised  Taunton  for 
the  parliament.     In  1644  he  was  appointed  governor  of 
this  place,  which  was  of  the  utmost  importance,  being 
ihe  only  garrison  the  parliament  had  in  the  west     The 
works  about  it  were  not  strong,  nor  was  the  garrison  nu* 
merous ;  yet,  by  his  strict  discipline,  and  kind  behaviour 
to  the  townsmen,  he  found  means  to  keep  the  place,  though 
hot  properly  furnished  with  supplies,  and  sometimes  be^ 
sieged,  and  even  blocked  up  by  the  king's  forces.     At 
length  Goring  made  a  breach,  and  actually  took  part  of  the 
town ;  while  Blake  still  held  out  the  other  part  and  the 
castle,  till  relief  came.     For  this  service  the  parliament 
ordered  the  garrison  a  bounty  of  2000/.  and  the  governor  a 
present  of  500/.     When  the  parliament  had  voted  that  no 
farther  addresses  should  be  made  to  the  king,  Blake  joined 
in  an  address  from  the  borough  of  Taunton,  expressing 
their  gratefulness  for  this  step  taken  by  tfa^  house  of  com^. 
^  Vol.  V.  C  c 


3S^ 


BLAKE. 


mons;  However,  when  the  king  came  to  be  tried,  Blake 
disapproved  of  that  measure,  as  illegal ;  and  was  fre- 
quently heard  to  say,  he  would  as  freely  venture  his  life  to 
save  the  king's,  as  ever  he  did  to  serve  the  parliament.  But 
this  is  thought  to  have  been  chiefly  owing  to  the  humanity 
of  his  temper ;  since  after  the  death  of  the  king  he  entered 
into  all  the  measures  of  the  republican  party,  and,  next  to 
Cromwell,  wasl;he  ablest  officer  the  parliament  had. 

February  12,   1649,  he  was  appointed  to  command  the 
jfleet,  in  conjunction  with  col.  Deane  and  col.  Popham,  and 
soon  after  was  ordered  to  sail,  with  a  squadron  of  men  of 
war,  in  pursuit  of  prince  Rupert.     Blake  came  before  Kin- 
sale  in  June   1649,  where  prince  Rupert  lay  in  harbour. 
He  kept  him  in  the  harbour  till  the  beginning  of  October  ; 
when  the  prince,  despairing  of  relief  by  sea,  and  Cromwell 
"being  ready  to  take  the  town  by  land,  provisions  of  all  sorts 
falling  short,  he  resolved  to  force  his  way  through  Blake's 
squadron,  which  he  effected  with  the  loss  of  three  of  his 
ships.     The  prince's  fleet  steered  their  course  to  Lisbon, 
where  they  were  protected  by  the  king  of  Portugal.    Blake 
sent  to  the  king  for  leave  to  enter,  and  coming  near  with 
bis  ships,  the  castle  shot  at  him ;  upon  which  be  dropped 
anchor,  and  sent  a  boat  to  know  the  reason  of  this  hostility. 
The  captain  of  the  castle  answered,  he  had  no  orders  from 
the  king  to  let  his  ships  pass :  however,  the  king  com- 
manded one  of  the  lords  of  the  court  to  wait  upon  Blake, 
and  to  desire  him  not  to  come  in  except  the  weather  proved 
bad,  lest  some  quarrel  should  happen  between  him  and 
prince  Rupert ;  the  king  sent  him,  at  the  same  time,  a 
large  present  of  fresh  provisions.  The  weather  pronng  bad, 
Blake  sailed  up  the  river  into  the  bay  of  Wyers,  but  two 
miles  from  the  place  where  prince  Rupert'^  ships  lay ;  and 
thence  he  sent  capt.  Moulton,  to  inform  the  king  of  the 
falsities  in  the  prince's  declaration.     The  king,  however, 
still  refusing  to  allow  the  admiral  to  attack  prince  Rupert, 
Blake  took  five  of  the  Brazil  fleet  richly  laden,  and  at  the 
same  time  sent  notice  to  him,  that  unless  he  ordered  the 
prince's  ships  out  from  his  river,  he  would  seize  the  rest 
of  the  Portuguese  fleet  from  America.     Sept.   1650  the 
prince  endeavoured  to  get  out  of  the  harbour,  but  was  soon 
driven  in  again  by  Blake,  who  sent  to  England  nine  Portu- 
guese ships  bound  for  Brazil.     October  following,  he  and 
•  Popham  met  with  a  fleet  of  23  sail  from  Brazil  for  Lisbon, 
of  whom  they  sunk  the  admiral,  took  the  vice-admiral^  and 


B  L  A  K  E.  ,  >87 

11  Other  ships,  having  10,000  chests  of  sugar  onboard. 
In  his  return  home,  he  met  with  two  ships  in  search  of 
the  prince,  whom  he  followed  up  the  Streights ;  when  he 
took  a  French  man  of  war,  the  captain  of » which  had  com- 
mitted hostilities.  He  sent  this  prize,  reported  tcL  be 
worth  a  million,  into  Calais,  and  followed  the  prince  to 
the  port. of  Carthagena,  where  he  lay  with  the  remainder 
of  his  fleet.  As  soon  as  Blake  came  to  anchor  before  the 
fort,  he  sent  a  messenger  to  the  Spanish  governor,  inform- 
ing him,  that  an  enemy  to  the  state  of  England  was  in  his 
port,  that  the  parliament  had  commanded  him  to  pursue 
him,. and  the  king  of  Spain  being  in- amity  with  the  parlia- 
ment, he.desired  leave  to  take  all  advantages  against  their 
enemy.  The  governor  replied,  he  could  not  take  notice 
of  the  difference  of  any  nations  or  persons  amongst  them- 
selves, only  such  as  were  declared  enemies  to  the  king  his 
master ;  that  they  came  in  thither  for  safety,  therefore  he 
could  not  refuse  them  protection,  and  that  he  would  do 
the  like  for  the  admiral.  Blake  still  pressed  the  governor 
to  permit  him  to  attack  the  prince,  and  the  Spaniard  put 
him  off  till  he  could  have  orders  from  Madrid.  While  the 
admiral  was  cruizing  in  the  Mediteranean,  prince  Rupert 
got  out  of  Carthagena,  and  sailed  to  Malaga.  Blake,  hav- 
ing notice  of  his  destroying  many  English  ships,  followed 
him  ;*  and  attacking  him  in  the  port,  burnt  and  destroyed 
his  whole  fleet,  two  ships  only  excepted  ;  this  was  in  Janu- 
ary 1651.  In  February,  Blake  took  a  French  manx)f  war 
of  40  guns,  and  sent  it,  with  other  prizes,  to  England. 
Soon  after  he  came  with  his  squadron  to  Pl3rmouth,  whea 
he  received  the  thanks  of  the  parliament,  and  was  made 
warden  of  the  cinque  ports.  March  following,*  an  act 
passed,  whereby  colonel  Blake,  colonel  Popham,  and  colo- 
nel Deane,  oir  any  tWo  of  them,  were  appointed  admirals 
and  generals  of  the  fleet,  for  the  year  ensuing.  The  next 
service  he  was  put  upon,  wa$  the  reducing  the  isles  of 
Scilly,  which  were  held  for  the  king.  He  sailed  in  May, 
with  a  body  of  800  land  troops  on  board.  Sir  John  Gran- 
ville, who  commanded  in  those  parts  for  the  kingj  after 
some  small  .resistance,  submitted.  He  sailed  next  for 
Guernsey,  which  was  held  for  the  king,  by  sir  Geprge 
Carteret.  He  arrived  there  in  October,  and  landing  what 
forces  he  had  the  very  next  day,  he  did  every  thing  in  his 
power  in  order  to  make  a  speedy  conquest  of  the  island, 
which  was  not  completed  that  year.*    In  the  begintling  of 

c  c  2 


M»  B  L  AK  E/ 

the  n€xt>  however,   the  governor,   finding  all '  hopesr  of 
relief  vain,  thought  proper  to  make  the  best  terms  he  cauld> 
For  this  service   Blake  had  thanks  from  the  parliament/ 
and  was  elected  one  of  the  council  of  state.     March  25^ 
1j652,  he  was  appointed  sole  admiral  for  nine  months,  on 
the  prospect  of  a  Dutch  war.     The  st^ites  sent  Van  Trump 
with  forty-five  sail  of  men  of  war  into  the  Downs,  to  in- 
sult  the    English ;    Blake,    however,  though  he  had  but 
twenty-'three  ships,  and  could  expect  no  succour  but  from 
major  Bourne,  who  commanded  eight  more,    yet,  being 
attacked  by  Van  Trump,  fought  him  bravely,  and  forced 
him  to  retreat*      This  was   on   the   19th  of  May,   1652. 
After  this  engagement  the  states  seemed  inclined  to  peace ; 
but  the  commtonwealth  of-  England  demanded  such  terms 
as  could  not  be  complied  with,  and  therefore  both  sides 
prepared  to  carry  on  the  war  with  greater  vigour.     Blake 
now  harassed  the  enetny  by  taking  their  merchant  ships, 
In  which  he  had  great  success.     On  the  1 0th  of  June,  a 
detachment  from   his  fleet  fell    upon  twenty-six  sail  Of 
Dutch  merchantmen,  and  took  them  every  one ;  and  by 
the  end  of  June  he  had  sent  into  port  forty  prizes.     On 
llie  2d  of  July  he  sailed,  with  a  stirong  squadron,  north- 
wards.    In  his  course  h^  took  a  Dutch  man   of  war;  and 
about  the  latter  end  of  the  month,  he  fell  on  twelve  men 
of  war,  convoy  to  their  herring  busses,  took  the  whole 
convoy,    100  of  their  busses,    and   dispersed   the    rest: 
August  12,  he  returned  into  the  Downs,  with  six  of  the 
!Putch  men  of  war,  -and  900  prisoners.     Thence  he  stood 
over  CO  the  coast  of  Holland,  and  on  Sept.  28th,  having 
discovered  the  Dutch  about  noon,  though  he  bad  only 
three  of  his  own  squadron  with  him,  vice-admiral  Penii 
with  his  squadron  at  some  distance,  and  the  rest  a  league 
or  two  astern,  he  bore  in  among  the  Dutch  iieet,  being* 
bravely  seconded  by  Penn  and  Bourne ;  when  three  of  tht? 
ieoemy's  ships  were  wholly  disabled  at  the  first  brunt,  aiyd" 
another  as   she  was  towing  off.  .   The  rear-admiral  was' 
taken  by  capta;in  M ildmay ;  and  had  not  night  intervenied, 
k  was  .thought  not  a  single  ship  of  the  Dutch  fleet  wouM.- 
have  escaped.     On  the  29th,  about  day-break,  the  English 
espied  the  Dutch  fleet  N.  E*  two  leagues  off ;  the  admiral 
bore  up  to  them,  but'  the  enemy  having  the  wind  of  him,^ 
be  could  not  reaeh  them,;  however,  he  commanded  hii^ 
light  frigates  to  ply  as  near  as  they  could,  and  keep  firing^ 
^bile  the  rest  bope  up  after  them  i  upon  which  the  Dut^' 


B  L  A  K  E.: 


n9. 


i^isted  their  sails,  and  run  for  it.  The  English  being  id. 
waut  of  proYisions,  returned  to  the  Downs.  Blake  having 
been  obliged  to  make  large  detachments  from  his  fleet| 
Van  Trump,  who  had  again  the  command  of  the  Dutch 
q^vy,  consisting  of  eighty  men  of  war,  resolved  to  take 
this  opportunity  of  attacking  him  iit  the  Downs,  knowing 
be  had  not  above  half  his  number  of  ships.  He  accordingly 
sailed  away  to  the  back  of  the  Goodwin.  Blake  having 
ilijteliigence  of  this,  called  a  council  of  war,  wherein  it 
was  resolved  to  fight,  though  at  so  great  a  disadvantage^ 
The  engagement  began  November  29,  about  two  in  the 
morning,  and  lasted  till  near  six  in  the  evening.  Blake 
was  aboard  the  Triumph  ;  this  ship,  the  Victory,  and  the 
Vanguard,  sufijered  most,  having  been  engaged  at  one 
time  with  twenty  of  the  enemy^s  best  ships.  The  admiral 
finding  his  ships  much  disabled,  and  that  the  Dutch  had 
the  advantage  of  the  wind,  drew  off  his  fleet  in  the  night 
into  the  Thames,  having  lost  the  Garland  and  Bonaven* 
ture,  which  were  taken  by  the  Dutch  ;  a  small  frigate  wad^ 
also  burnt,  and  three  sunk  ;  and  his  remaining  ships  much 
flattered  and  disabled  :  Van  Trump,  however,  bought  thii» 
victory  dear,  one  of  his  fiag-^ships  being  blown  upf  all  the 
men  drowned,  and  his  own  ship  and  De  Ruyter's  both 
unfit  for  service  till  they  were  repaired.  This  success  in* 
vigorated  the  spirits  of  the  Dutch  exceedingly  ;  Vaii 
Trump  sailed  through  the  channel  with  a  broom  at  his 
inain-top-mast,  to  signify  that  he  had  swept  the  seas  o£ 
£nglish  ships.  In  the  mean  time,  Blake  having  repaired 
\d&  fleet,  and  Monk  and  Deane  being  now  joined  in  com« 
mission  with  him,  sailed  Feb.  8,  1653,  from  Queensbo«» 
irough,  with  sixty  men  of  war,  which  were  sodn  after 
joined  with  twenty  more  from  Portsmouth.  On  the  18th 
they  discovered  Van  Trump  with  seventy  men  of  war,  and 
200  merchant  ships  under  his  convoy.  Blake,  with  twelve 
^ips,  came  up  with  and  engaged  the  Dutch  fleet,  and^ 
though  grievously  wounded  in  the  thigh,  continued  the 
fight  till  night,  when  the  Dutch,  who  had  six  men  of  war 
sunk  and  taken,  retired.  After  having  put  ashore  hit 
lifounded  men  at  Portsmouth,  he  followed  the  enemy, 
whom  he  Came  up  with  next  day,  when  the  fights  was  re- 
newed, to  the  loss  of  the  Dutch,  who  continued  retreating 
towards  Boulogne.  All  the  night  following  Blake  con-* 
^nned  the  pursuit,  and,  in  the  morning  of  the  20th,  the 
two  fleets  fought  again  till  four  in  the  afternoon,  when  the 


890  BLAKE. 

wind  blowing  favourably   for  tlie   Dutch,    they  secured 
themselves  on  the  flats  of  Dunkirk  and  Calais.     In  these 
three  engagements  the  Dutch  lost  eleven  men  of  war, 
thirty  merchant  ships,  and  had  fifteen  hundred  men  slain. 
The  English  IcJst  only  one  ship,  but  Jiot  fewer  men  than 
the  enemy.     In  April  Cromwell  turned  out  the  parliament,  . 
^and  shortly  after  assumed  the  supreme  power.     The  states 
hoped  great  advantages  from  this,  but  were  disappointed  ; 
Blake  said  on  this  occasion  to  his  officers,  *'  It  is  not  for 
us  to  mind  state  affairs,  but  to  keep  foreigners  from  fooling 
us."   ^  Towards  the  end  of  the  month  Blake  and  his  col- 
]eagues,  with  a  fleet  of  an  hundred  sail,  stood  over  to  the 
Dutch  coast,  and  forced  their  fleet  to  take  shelter  in  the 
Texel,  where,  for  some  time,  they  were  kept  by  Monk  and 
D^ane,  while  Blake  sailed  Northward;  at  last  Van  Trump 
got  out,   and  drew  together  a  fleet  of  an  hundred  and 
twenty  men  of  war.     June  3d,  Deane  and  Monk  engaged 
him  off  the  North  Foreland.     On  the  4th  Blake  came  to 
their  assistance  with  eighteen  fresh  ships,  by  which  means 
a  complete  .victory  was  gained  ;  and  if  the  Doitch  had  not 
again  saved  themselves  on  Calais  sands,  their  whole  fleet 
had  been  sunk  or  taken«     Cromwell  having  called  the  par- 
liament, styled  the  Little  Parliament,  Blake,  Oct.  1 0,  took 
his  seat  in  the  house,   where  he  received  their  solemn 
thanks  for  his  many  and  faithful  services.     The  protector 
afterwards  called  a   new  parliament,    consisting  of  four 
hundred,  where  Blake  sat  also,  being  the  representative 
for  his  native  town  of  Bridgewater.     Dec.  6th  he  was  ap« 
pointed  one  of  th6  commissioners  of  the  admiralty.     Nov. 
1654,  Cromwell  sent  him  wi<!h  a  strong  fleet  into  the  Me^ 
diterranean,  with  instructions  .to  support  the  honour  of 
the  English  flag,  and  to  procure  satisfaction  for  any  in- 
juries that  might  have  been  done  to  our  merchants.     In 
]>ecember  Blake  came  into  the  road  of  Cadiz,  where  he 
was.  treated  with  great  respect ;  a  Dutch  admiral  would 
not  hoist  his   flag  while  be  was   there.     The   Algerines 
were  so  much  afraid    of    him,   that  they  stopped   theii: 
£allee  roviers,  obliged  them  to .  deliver  up  what  English 
prisoners  they  had  onboard,  and  sent  them  to  Blake,  in 
ord^  to  procure  his  favour.     Nevertheless,  he  came  be- 
fore Algiers  on  the  10th  of  March,  when  he  sent  an  of- 
ficer on  shore  to  the  dey  to  tell   him  he  had  orders  to 
demand  satisfaction   for  the  piracies  conimitted   on   the 
English,  and  to  insist  on  the  release  of  9II  such  English 
captives  as  were  then  in  the  place.    To  this  the  dey  made 


BLAKE.  (JM 

answer,  that  the  captures  belonging  to  particular  itiep  hp 
could  not  restore  ;  but,  if  Mr.  Blake  pleased,  he  might  re- 
deem what  English  cs^ptives  were  there  at  a  reasonable 
price ;    and,  if  he  thought  proper,  the  Algerines  would 
conclude  a  peace  with  him,  and  for  the  future  offer  nd 
acts  of  hostility  to  the  English.     This  answer  was.  accom- 
panied with  a  present  of  fresh  provisions.     Blake  sailed  to 
Tunis  on  the  same  errand.     The  dey  of  Tunis  sent.hi^ 
a  haughty  answer.     "  Here,"  said  he,   "  are  our  castles 
of  Goletta  and  Porto  Ferino,  do  your  worst !  do  you  think 
we  fear  your  fleet?"    On  the  hearing  this,  Blake,  as  his 
custom  was  when  in  a  passion,  began  to  curl  his  whiskers  ; 
and,  after  a  short  consultation  with  his  officers, .  bore,  iilto 
the   bay  of  Porto    Ferino  with   his   great   ships  ;    wnen, 
coming  within  musket-shot  of  the  castle,  he'  fired  op  it  so 
briskly,  that  in  two  hours  it  was  rendered  defenceless,  and 
the  guns  on  the  works  along  the  shore  were  dismount^cj, 
though  sixty  of  them  played   at  a  time  upon  the  English. 
He  found  nine  ships  in  the  road,  and  ordered  every  cap- 
tain, even  of  his  own  ship,  to  man  his  long  boat  wit^ 
choice  men,  and  these  to  enter  the  harbour  and  fire ,  t^hje 
Tuniseens,  while  he  and  his  fleet  covered  them  fronfl  the 
castle,  by  playing  continually  on  it  with  their  cannon.  The 
seamen   in  thefir  boats  boldly  assaulted  the   pirates,  an,d 
burnt  all  their  ships,    with   the  loss,  of  twenty -five  mw 
killed,    and    forty-eight   wounded.       This,  daring    action 
spread  the  terror  of  his  name  throughout  Africa  and  Asi^, 
which  had  for  a  long  time  before  been  formidable  in  £u» 
rope.     He  also  struck .  such  terror  into  the  p^atical  state 
of  Tripoly,  that  he.  made  them  glad  to  strike  up  a  peace 
with  England.     These  and  other  exploits  raised  the  glory 
of  the  English  name  so  high,  that  most  bf  the  princes  and 
states  in  Italy  thought  fit  to  pay  their  compliments  to,  the 
protector,   particularly  the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  and 
the  republic  of  Venice,  who  sent  magnificent  embassies 
for  that  purpose.     The  war  in  the  mean  tiipe  was  grown 
pretty  hot  with  Spain ;  and  Blake  used  hi:*  utmost  eiForts 
to  ruin  their  maritime  force  in  Europe,  asPeni)  had  done 
in  the  West  Indies.     But  finding  himself  now  in  a  de- 
clining state  of  health;  and  fearing  the  ill  consequences 
which  might  ensue,  in  case  he  should  die  without  any  coU 
league  to  take  charge  of  the  fleet,  he  wrote  letters  into 
England,   desiring  some  proper  person  to  be  named  in 
CommissioA  with  him  3  upon  which  general  Montague  w«i 


99i  BLAKE. 

sent  joint-admiral,  with  a  strong  squadron  to  assist  bkn. 
Soon  after  bis  arrival  in  the  Mediterranean,  the  two  ad« 
tnirals  sailed  with  their  whole  fleet  to  block  up  a  Spanish 
squadron  in  the. bay  of  Cadiz.  At  length,  in  September, 
being  in  great  want  of  water,  Blake  and  Montague  stood 
away  for  the  coast  of  Portugal,  leaving  captain  Stayner 
^ith  seven  ships  to  look  after  the  epemy.  Soon  after  they 
were  gone,  the  Spanish  plate  fleet  appeared,  but  were  in- 
tercepted by  Stayner,  who  took  the  vice-admiral  and 
another  galleon,  which  were  afterwards  burnt  by  accident, 
the  rear-admiral,  with  two  millions  of  plate  on  board,  and 
another  ship  richly  laden.  These  prizes,'  together  with 
all  the  prisoners,  were,  sent  into  England  under  generid 
Montague,  and  Blake  alone  renxained  in  the  Mediterra;- 
iiean  i  till,  being  informed  that  another  plate  fleet  had 
put  into  Santa  Cruz,  in  the  island  of  TenerifFe,  he  sailed 
thither  in  April  1657,  with  a  fleet  of  tvi^nty-flve  men  of 
war.  Oh  the  20th  he  came  into  the  road  of  Santa  Cruz  ; 
and  though  the  Spanish  ^governor  had  timely  notice^  was  a 
man  of  courage  and  conduct,  and  had  disposed  all  things 
in  the  most  proper  manner,  so  that  he  looked  upon  an  at«* 
tack  as  what  no  wise  admiral  would  think  practicable  ;  yet 
Blake  having  summoned  him,  and  received  a  short  answer^ 
was  determined  to  force  the  place^  and  to  bum  the  fleet 
therein ;  and  he  performed  it  in  such  a  manner  as  appeavs 
next  to  incredible.  Iti$  allowed  to  be  one  of  the  most 
remarkably  actions  that , ever  happisned  at  s^ea.,..  As  soon  as 
the  news  arrived  of  this  extraordinary  action,  the  protector 
sent  to  acquaint  his  segqnd  parliament,  then  sitting,  there^ 
with;  upon  which  they  ordered  a  public  thanksgiving,  and 
directed  a  diamond  ring  worth  500/.  to  be  sent  to  Blake; 
and  the  thapks  of  the  house  was  ordered  to  all  the  oflicers 
and  seamen,  and  to  be  given  them  by  their  admiral.  Upon 
bis  return  to  the  Meditei'ranean  he  cruised  some  time  ben 

■   »      »  .  « 

ibre  Cadiz;  but  finding  himself  declining  fast,  resolved 
to  return  home.  He  accordingly  sailed  for  England,  but 
lived  not  to  6ee  as:ain  his  native  land  ;  for  he  died  as  tbft 
f)e<et  was  entering  Plymouth,  the  Ifth  of  August  1657, 
aged  58.  His  body  Ivas  conveyed  to  Westminster  abbey,, 
anid  interred  with  great  pomp  in  Henry-  the  Seventh's 
-chapel;  but  removed  fromthenoein  1€61|  andre*interredi, 
in  St  Margaret-s  church-yard  *. 

f  Clafendon  haWii|[  ifieiittcme^  alt '  bit  first  SOinc  atiqard  t^be  fleet,  <^i^|?. 
'Ulake'B  fiinployqiettU  to  the  time  of    oliides  tlius  \  •*  fie  'Uien '  htt^ '  tuai* 


B  L  A  K  E.  i$S 

He  was  a  man  of  a  low  stature ;  but  of  a  quick,  lively 
eye,  and  of  a  good  soldier-like  countenance.  He  was  in 
bis  person  brave  beyond  example,  yet  cool  ia  action,  and 
.shewed  a  great  deal  of  military  conduct  in  the  disposition 
of  those  desperate  attacks  which  men  of  a  cooler  compo<« 
sition  have  judged  rather  fortunate  than  "expedient  H^ 
certainly  loved  his  country  with  extraordinary  ardour, 
aud^  as  he  never  meddled  with  intrigues  of  state,  so  what* 
ever  government  he  served,  he  was  solicitous  to  do  his 
duty.  He  was  upright  to  a  supreme  degree,  for,  not*- 
mthstanding  the  vast  sums  which  passed  through  his  bands, 
be  scarcely  left  five  hundred  pounds  behind  him  of  his 
own  acquiring.  In  fine,  he  was  altogether  disinterested 
and  unambitious^  exposing  himself  on  all  occasions  for 
ihd  benefit  of  the  public  and  the  glory  of  the  nation^  and 
sot. with  any  view  to  his  own  private  profit  or  fame.  I^i 
respect  to  his  personal  chakiacter,  he  was  pious  without  af- 
fectation, strictly  jufst,  and  liberal  to  the  utmost  extent  of 
bis  fortune.  His  officers  hie  treated  vt^ith  the  familiarity 
of  friends,  and  to  his  sailors  he  was  truly  a  parent.  The 
«tate  buried  him  as  it  was  fit:  at  the  public  expence  a 
grfive  was  given  him,'  but  no  tomb ;  and  though  he  still 
,wante  an  epitaph,  writers  of  all  parties  have  shewn  an 
ieiLgemess  to  do  his  memory  justice.  We  find  it  very  posi- 
tively asserted,'  that  captain  Benjahiin  Blake,  brother  to 
the  general,  suffered  io  tnany  hardships  *for  being  a  dis« 
Center,  int^e  latter^ud  of  the  reignpf  king  Charles  IL 
that  he  found  himself  under  the  necessity  of  selling  bi^ 
patviraony,  land  transpxnrting  himself  and  his  family  to 
Carolina.  .  Another  author  (though  some  indeed  think  it 
i3  the  same)  rielates  this  st»ry  of  Mt.  Humphry  Blake,'  the 

ielf  who1I|r  to  tb^  8«b»  and  qulokly^  very*  formidable,  and  were  discqyered 

made  himself  signal  there.    He  was  by  him  to  maHe  a  noiie  only,  and  to. 

the  first  man  that  declined  the  old  track,  fright  those  who  could  be  rarely  hurt 

«»#  mode  it  manifest  that  the  science  by  thein.    He  was  the  fir^t  that  infused 

might  be  attained  Ifi.lesff.tinie  fbap  that .  proportion  of  courage  into  the 
was  imagined,  and  de8ptse4  those  ful^s  .  seamen,   by  making  them  see  by  ex- 

twlUGlh  bad  been  long  In  pratti^^,  to  perience    what     mighty   things    they 
^eep    bis   fhip  j^nd  bis  men  i  out  sii  .  lOOold  do  if  they  were  resolved,  and 

■clanger ;  which  had  been  bold  in  former  taught  them  to  fight  in  fire  as  well  as 

times  a  point  of  gpreat  ability  and  cir^  npon  water  ;  and  though  he  has  been 

(eiim^peetion,  a&  if  the  prfboipal  art-  very  #ell  linitated  aitd  followed,  he 

reiqu^jsite  in  a  c^ptf^i^  of  ^  ship  had  was  tbjQ  ^rst  who  gave  the  example  of 

been  to  be  sure  to  cdme  safe  home  that  kind  of  naval  courage,  and  bola 

•gain.      He  was  the   first   man  who  and  ^resolute    achievemebtf."     Histf 

brought  th|^sbip8  .to  contemn  castles  on  vol.  l|I.jp^  39j^ 
#hoi^.  Wch'ba4  been  thought  ever 


Z9i  B  L  A:  K  E. 

general's  brother,  and  tells  us,  that  the  family  estate  was 
worth  two  hundred  pounds  a  year,  which  he  was  obliged 
to  dispose  of,  to  pay  the  fines  laid  upon  him  for  his  non* 
conformity.  It  is  however  strange,  that  every  one  of  the 
gen eraPs  nephews  and  nieces,  by  his  sister  Susannah,  who 
married  a  gentleman  at  Minehead,  in  Somersetshire,  should 
be  totally  unacquainted  ^vith  this  transaction,  and  that 
pone  of  the  family  should  be  able  to  give  any  account  of 
that  mattery  and  therefore  it  seems  to  be  justly  doubted 
whether  there  be  any  truth  in  the  story,  or  whether  it  is 
only  grounded  on  there  being  a  considerable  family  of  his 
name  settled  in  that  province^  one  of  whom,  when  it  was 
in  private  hands,  was  a  lord  proprietor. 
•  In  a  life  of  him,  written  by^  Dr.  Johnson,  in  the  Gen* 
tleman's  Magazine,  voLX.  there  is  a  circumstance  recorded 
that  we  have  not  found  elsewhere,  nor  do  we  know  the 
authority  on  which  it  is  grounded.  It  is  said,  that  while 
Blake  was  cruising  in  the^  Mediterranean,  in  February 
1650-51,  he  met  with  a  French  ship  of  considerable  force, 
and  commanded  the  captain  to  come  on*  board,  there 
being  then  no  war  declared  between  the  two  nations.  The 
captain,  when  he  came,  was  asked  whether  ^^  he  was  will- 
Jin  g  to  lay  down. his  sword  and  yield."  This  he  gallantly 
refused,  though  in  his  eneniy's  power.  Blake,  scorning  to 
take  the  advantage  of  an  artifice,  and  detesting  the  ap* 
pearance  of  treachery,  told  him,  "  That  he*  was  at  liberty 
to  go  back  to  liis  ship,  and  defend  it  as  long  as  he  could.'* 
The  captain  willingly  accepted  the  offer,  and  after  a  fight 
of  two  hours,  confessed  himself  conquered,  kissed  his  sword^ 
ancl  surrendered  it. 

In  the  same  author  there  ar^  some  remarks  concerning 
Blake's  conduct,  in  the  battle  which  he  fought  with  the 
putch,  on  the  29th  of  November,  1652,  that  appear  wor- 
thy of  attention.  "  There  are,"  says  he,  ^^  sometimes  obser- 
"rations  and  enquiries,  which  all  historians  seem,  to  decline 
by  agreement,  of  which  this  action  may  afford  us  an  ex- 
ample. Nothing  appears  at  the  first  view  more  to  detuand 
pur  curiosity,  or  afford  matter  for  examins^tion,  than  thisi 
wild  encounter  of  twenty-two  shjps,  with  a  force,  accord- 
ing to  their  accounts  who  favour  the  Dutch,  three  timesi 
superior.  Nothing  can  justify  a  commander  in  fighting 
under  such  disadvantages,  but  the  impo^ibility  of  retreat- 
ing. But  what  hindered  Blake  from  retiring  as  well  before 
the  fight  as  a^ter  it  ?  To  say  be  was  ignorant  of  the  strength 


BLAKE,  395 

of  the  Dutch  fleet,  is  to  impute  to  him  a  very  criminal  de- 
gree of  negligence;  and  at  least  it  must    be  confessed, 
that,  from  the  time  he  saw  them,  he  could  not  but  know 
that  they  were  too  powerful  to  be  opposed  by  him,  and 
even  then  th^re  was  time  for  retreat.     To  urge  the  ardour 
of  his  sailors,: is  to  divest  Ixim  of  the  authority  of  a  comman- 
der, and  to  charge  him  with  the  most  reproachful  weakness 
that  can  enter  into  the  character  of  a  general.     To  men- 
tion the  impetuosity  of  his  own  courage,  is  to  make  the 
blame  of  his  temerity  equ^l  to  the  praise  of  his  valour ; 
which  seems,  indeed,  to  be  the  most  gentle  censure  that 
the  truth  of  history  will  allow.  We  must  then:  admit,  amidst 
our  eulogies  and  applauses,  that  the  great,  the  wise,  and 
the  valiant  Blake,  was    once  betrayed  to   an  incbnside- 
rate  and  desperate  enterprize,  by  the  resistless  ardour  ef 
his  own  spirit,  and  a  noble  jealousy  of  the  honour  of  his 
country."     This  quotation   we  reta.n   for  the  purpose  of 
adding,  that  if  the  author  had  hved  in  the  times  of  a  St. 
Vinceu.t  and  a  Nelson,  he   Would  have  probably  viewed 
Blake's  temerity  in  a  different  light.  '* 

Blake's  behaviour  to  his  brother  Benjamin'  has  been  de- 
servedly celebrated  as  one  of  the  noblest  instani^es  of 
justice  to  bis  country,  and,  at  the  same  tirpe,  of  tender-' 
ness  to  a  friend  and  relation,  that  can  be  met  with  in  an- 
•cient  or  modern  history.  When  that  brother  betrayed 
cQwardice  in  the  first  trial,  he  immediately  broke  and  sent 
him  home,  as  unworthy  of  the  nation's  pay.  Yet  the  want 
of  military  virtue  did  not  lessen  the  lies  of  fraternal  affec- 
tion, and  he  left  his  brother  to  enjoy  that  estate  which  h6 
might  be  qualified  to  adorn  in  private  life. 

Mr.  Hume's  character  of  our  great  admiral  is*  drawn  up 
with  that  historian's  usual  elegance  and  spirit.  "  Never  man. 
so  zealous  for  a  faction,  was  so  much  rejspected  and  esteemed 
even  by  the  opposite  factions.  He  was,  by  principle,  an 
inflexible  republican  ;  and  the  late  usurpations,  amidst  aU 
the  trust  and  caresses  which  he  received  from  the  ruling 
powers,  were  thought  to  be  very  little  grateful  to  him.  *  It 
is  still  our  duty,'  he  said  to  the  seamen,  *to  fight  for  our 
country,  -into  whatever  hands  the  government  may  fall.* 
Disinterested,  generous,  liberal ;  ambitious  only  of  true 
glory,  dreadful  only  to  his  avowed  enemies ;  he  forms  one 
of  the  most  perfect  characters  of  that  age,  and  the  least 
stained  with  those  errors  and  violences,  which  were  then 
io  predominant.     The  protector  ordered  him  a  pompous 


S9fi  BLAKE. 

funemt  at  the  public  charge  :  but  the  tears  of  his  coQi)try« 
'  nien  were  the  most  honourable  panegyric  on  his  memory*^* } 

SLAKE  (Thomas),  an  English  puritan  divine,  was  bo^ 
in  Staffordshire  in  1597,  and  in  1616  was  entered  of  Christ 
Church}  Oxford,  where  he  took  his  degrees,   and  went 
into  the.  chi^rch.     In  1648  he  sided  with  the  ruling  party>\ 
subscribed  the  covenant,  and  became  pastor  of  St  Ale-; 
mond's  in  ,  Shrewsbury,  and  afterwards  of  Tamworth  ii|. 
Staffordshire,  where  he  was  also  one  of  the  committee  for. 
the  ejection  of  those  who  were  accounted  "  ignorant  and 
scandalous  ipinisters  and    schoolmasters.''      He  died  in 
Jund,  1657,  and  was  buried  in  Tamworth  church,  after  a 
funeral  sermon  preached  by  the  famous  Mr.  Anthony  £ur<« 
gess,  of,  Sutton  Colfield. 

He  wrote,  besides  some  controversial  tracts  on  Infant 
Baptism,  l,  ^^  Vindiciae  Foederis,  a  treatise  of  the  covenant 
of  God  with  mankind,  &c."  Lond.  1653,  4to.  2.  "The 
Covenant  sealed,"  ibid«  4to,  1655  ;  and  several  single  ser* 
mons,  and  o^editations  entitled  ^^  Living  Truths  in  dying 
times,''  1665,  12mo.  Burgess's  Funeral  Sermon  for  him 
was  printed,  Lond.  1658,  4to,  but  became  so  scarce,  that 
Wood  informs  us  he  could  never  see  a  copy,  otherwise  he 
would  have  enlarged  his  account  from  it.  There  is  but 
little  in  it,  however,  of  personal  character.  The  funeral 
oration  printed  along  with  it,  and  spoken  by  one  Shaw,  a 
schoolmaster,  is  a  curious  specimen  of  pedantic  imagery. ' 

BLANC.     See  LEBLANC 

BLANCARD,  or  BLANCKAERT  (Nicholas),  a  clas- 
sical  editor,  was  born  at  Leyd^n,  of  a  noble  family,  Dec*. 
11^  1625,  and  was  educated  under  Boxhorn  and  Golius. 
He  had  scarcely  arrived  at  his  twentieth  year,  when. he 
was  invited  to  become  professor  of  history  at  Steinfurtb. 
This  h^  resigned  in  1650  for  the  chair  of  history  and  an*^ . 
tiquities  at  Middleburgh,  but  this  school  falling  into  decay,^ , 
Blancard  removed  to  Heeren-veen  in  Friseland,  where  he 
practised  physic.     In  November  1669,  he  was  appointed 
Greek  professor  at  Franeker.     At  these  different  places  he 
published,  1.  an  edition  of  "  Quintus  Curtius,"  with  notes, 
Leyden,  1649,  8vo.     2.  "  Florus,"  with  his  own  added  to  . 

1  Biog.  Brit.-^en.  Dict-^-Johnson's  Works. — The  first  rei^olar  life  of  Bla^ 
appeared  in  Lives  Foreign  and  English,  vol.  II.  1704,  8vo. 

3  Ex.  gr.  *'  Being  sensible  of  my  stupefaction,  I  desire,  <^ut  of  a  pious  policy,  • 
to  supply  my  drynesse,  by  taking  your  tears,  and  putting  them  into  qiy  punip» 
so  hoping  to  revive  mine  own,  which  yet  I  jud^e  are  cathtf  drowned  tUaj|i 
jlry«dup!"-^Ath,Ox.;V0l.  II,  .    •  - 


BLANCARD.  SST 

the  Variorum,''  ibid.  1650,  8vo;  Franekier^  lG^0,4to.  3* 
**  Arrian's  Alexander,"  not  in  much  estimation,  Amster- 
dam, 1(568,  Svo.  4.  *' Arriani  Tactica,  Periplus,  de  V^- 
natione;  Epicteti  Enchiridion,'*  &c.  Amst.  1683,  Svo. 
5.  "  Harpocrationis  Lexicon,"  Leyden,  1683,  4to.  6. 
**Philippi  Cyprii  Chronicon  ecclesiae  Graeciae,"  Franc.  1679^ 
4to,  the  first  edition,  which  Blancard  copied  from  a  ma-* 
Quscript  brought  from  Constantinople,  and  translated  it 
into  Latin.  7.  ^^  Thomas  Magistri  dictionum  Atticarum 
eclogae,"  Fran.  1690,  8vo,  reprinted  1698,  with  notes  by- 
Lambert  Bos.  In  the  fine  edition  of  Thomas  published  by 
Bernard  in  1757,  this  text  of  Blancard  is  adopted  as  well 
iis  Bos*s  notes.  In  Burmann's  "  Sylloge,"  are  three  let-\ 
ters  of  Blancard* s.  He  had  begun  to  prepare  an  edition  of 
Thucydides,  but  owing  to  his  age  and  infirmities  wa& 
obliged,  about  the  year  1690,  to  give  up  his  literary  la- 
bours.    He  died  May  15,  1703.* 

BLANCARD  (Stephen),  son  to  the  preceding,  was  am 
eminent  physician  at  Franeker,  and  one  of  the  most  vo-,' 
luminous  compilers  of  his  time.     He  published  large  works 
on   every  branch  of  medicine  and  surgery,  taken  from  all 
preceding  and  even  contemporary  authors,  witboYit  either 
judgment  or  honesty ;  for  while  he  took  every  thing  good 
and  bad  which  he  could  find,  he  in  general  published  all 
as  his  own.     His  ^^  Anatomia  practica  rationalis,^*  1688, 
would  have  been  a  useful  work,  li^id  it  not  partalcen  too 
much  of  indiscriminate  borrowing :  biit,  perhaps,  tb^t  fpr 
which  he  is  best  known  is  his  *^  Lexicon  medicum  Graeco- 
Latinum,*'  which  has  gone  through  a  great  many  editions, 
some  of  which  have  been,  improved  by  more  able  scholars/ 
The  best,  we  believe,  is  that  printed  at  Louvain^  1754, 
2  vols,  8vo.     An  English  translation,  upder  the  title  of  the  . 
**^  Physical  Dictionary,"  printed  first  in  1693,  Svo,  was  for, 
spoie  time  a  popular  book,  until  supplanted,  if  we'  mistake 
not,  by  Quincey's.     Haller  and  Maoget  have  given  lists  of 
BlancaixTs  numerous  works,  but  neither  gives  much  of  bis. 
personal  history.     There  was  a  collection  of  what  probably 
were  esteemed  the  best  of  his  pieces,  printed  at  Leyden, . 
4to,  1701,  under  the  title  of  **  Opera  medica,  tbeoretica, 
practica  et  chirurgica.  ^  ^  , 

BLANCHARD  (James),  an  eminent  painter,  called  the  • 
French  Titian,  was  born  at  Paris  in  .1600.     He  learned  the 

r 

}  Biog.  Unlvei^elle.^— S»sii  Onoiuasticon,         *  lbidt«-rHalUr  and  Maoget. 


50»  BLANC  HARD. 

nicliments  of  his  profession  under  his  uncle  Nicholas  Bel- 
lori,  but  left  him  at  twenty  years  of  age  with  an  intention 
to  travel  to  Italy.  He  stopped  at  Lyons  in. his  way  thither^ 
where  he  staid  for  some  time ;  and  during  h^\s  residence 
here  reaped  both  protitand  amusement.  He  passed  on  to 
Rome^  where  he  continued  about  two  years.  From  thence 
he  went  to  Venice,  where  he  was  so  much  pleased  with 
the  works  of  Titian,  Tintoret,  and  Paul  Veronese,  that  he 
resolved  to  follow  their  manner;  and  in  this  he  succeeded 
so  far^  that  at  his  return  to  Paris  he  soon  got  into  high 
employment ;  being  generally  esteemed  for  the  novelty, 
beauty,  and  force  of  his  pencill  He  painted  two  galleries 
at  Paris,  one  belonging  to  the  first  president,  Perrault,  and 
the  other  to  monsieur  de  Bullion,  superintendant  of  the 
finances.  But  his  capital  pieces  ^re  those  in  the  church  of 
Notre  Dame, .  St.  Andrew  kneeling  before  the  cross,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost  descending.  Blanchard  was  in  a  likely 
way  of  making  his  fortune  ;  but  a  fever  and  an  imposthume 
in  the  lungs  carried  him  off  in  his  thirty-eightli  year.  Of 
all  the  French  painters  Blanchard  was  esteemed  the  best 
colourist,  having  studied  this  branch  with  great  care  in  the 
Venetian  school.  There  are  few  grand  compositions  of 
his;  but  what  he  has  left  of  this  kind  shew  him  to  have 
had  great  genius.  He  was  mostly  taken  up  with  Madonnas, 
half-Tengths,  which  prevented  his  ..employing  himself  in 
subjects  of  greater  extent. ' 

BLANCHET  (Francis),  a  French  abb6  of  considerable 
talents  and  amiable  character,  was  born  at  Angerville, 
near  Chartres,  Jan.  26,  1707,  of  poor  parents,  who  were, 
however,  enabled  to  give  him  an  education,  to  complete 
which  he  came  to  Paris.  In  1724  he  entered  among:  the 
Jesuits  as  a  noviciate,  but  did  not  remain  long  among 
them :  yet  he  was  highly  esteemed  by  his  masters,  and 
preserved  the  friendship  of  the  eminent  Jesuits  Brumoy, 
Bougeant,  and  Castel.  He  then  employed  himself  in 
education,  and  taught,  with  much  reputation,  rhetoric  and 
the  classics  in  two  provincial  colleges,  until  the  weak  state 
of  his  health  obliged  him  to  restrict  his  labours  to  the  of- 
fice of  private  tutor,  an  office  which  he  rescued  from  the 
contempt  into  which  it  had  fallen,  by  taking  equal  care  of 
the  morals  and  learning  of  his  pupils,  all  of  whom  did  him 
credit  in  both  respects.     Being  a  lover  of  independence, 

1  D'ArgenviUe.— PUkington.— -Biofp.  UiUTerselK 


BLANCHE  T.  399 

> 

he  resigned  bis  canonry  in  the  cathedral  of  Boulogne,  and 
when  appointed  one  of  the  interpreters  of  the  king^s  li- 
brary, the  same  scruples  induced  him  to  decline  it,  until 
M.Bignon  assured  him  that  the  place  was  given  him  as  the 
reward  of  his  merit,  and  required  no  sacrifices.  Soon  after 
he  was  appointed  censor,  but  upon  condition  that  he  should 
have  nothing  to  censure,  and  he  accordingly  accepted  the 

.title,  but  refused  the  salary ;  and  his  friends,  having  thus 
far  overcome  his  repugnance  to  dffices  of  this  description, 
procured  him  the  farther  appointment  of  keeper  of  the 
books  in  the  king's  cabinet  dt  Versailles.  Yet  this  courtly 
situatiorf  was  not  at  all  to  his  mind,  and  he  resigned  ia 
order  to  go  and  live  in  obscurity  at  St.  Germain-en* laye, 
where  he  died  Jan.  2d,  1784,  at  about  eighty.  His  dis-» 
position  was  amiable  in  society,  where,  however,  he  sel-* 
dom  appeared  ;  but  he  became  gloomy  and  melancholy^  ia 
the  solitude  to  which  he  condemned  himself.  Premature 
infirmities  had  considerably  altered  his  temper.  He  was 
oppressed  with  vapours,  from  which  he  suffered  alone,  and 
by  which  he  was  afraid  of  making  others  suffer.  It  was , 
this  that  made  him  seek  retirement.  ^^  Such  as  I  am,'*  said 
ha,  '*  1  must  bear  with  myself;  but  are  others  obliged  to 
bear  with  me  ?  I  really  think,  if  I  had  not  the  support  and 
consolations  of  religion,  I  i^ould  lose  my  senses.''  By 
nature  disinterested,  he  constantly  refused  favours  and 
benefits,  and  it  was  with  great  difEculty  he  could  be  made 
to  accept  of  any  thing.  The  advancement  of  his  friends,- 
however,  was  not  so  indifferent  to  him  as  his  own ;  and  he 

'  was  delighted  when  they  were  promoted  to  any  lucrative 
or  useful  place.  Living  in  this  retired  manner,  he  was 
scarcely  known  to  the  public  till  after  his  death.  Of  his 
writing  are  the  "  Vari6t6s  morales  et  ampsantes,"  1784, 
2  vols.  12mo,  and  "  Apologues  et  contes  orientaux,"  1785, 

'  8vo;  in  both  which  he  shews  himself  a  man  of  much 
reading,  and  who  has  the  talent  of  writing  with  sentiment, 
philosophy,  and  taste.  There  are  likewise  by  him  several 
little  pieces  of  poetry,  of  the  light  and  agreeable  kind,  of 
which  the  greater  part  were  attributed  to  the  best  poets  of 
the  time,  who  did  not  shew  any  vehement  disdain  at  the 
imputation ;  which  made  the  abb6  Blanchet  say,  ^^  I  am 
delighted  that  the  rich  adopt  my  children."  These  he 
would  lend  to  his  friends  on  the  most  solemn  promises  to 
return  them  without  copying,  or  suffering  ^thjgni  to  be 
copied,  and  would  often  be  extremely  anxious  if  they  were 


400  B  L  A  N  C  H  E  T. 

'      *    •  - 

Dot  returned '  yithin  the  time  specified,  when  be  imttie* ' 
diately  consigned  them  to  the  flames.     One  of  bis  poemsy  . 
however,  appears  to  iiave  escaped  this  fate^  an  ode  on  the 
existence  of  God,  which  was  published  in  1784,  with  his. 
'^  Yues  sur  Tt^ducation  d?uii  prince/'    IS^mo^     Dusaisb:, 
bis  relation,  wrote  an  amusing  life  of  the  abb6,  which  ic  • 
pref^^ced  to  the  **  Apologues/^  * 

BLANCHET  (Thomas)^:  a  painter^  bom  at  Paris  in. 
1617,  the  disciple  and  friend  of  Pous»q  and  Albanp,  was: 
appointed  professor  of  painting  by  the  academy  of  JParis^ 
though  absent,  and  therefore  contrary  to- established -cush* 
%oux  ;  but  Bianchet  was  sK:cpuuted  deserving  of  this  depart)- 
ture  from  the  rules.     Le  3run  presented  his  picture. for 
reception,    representing   Cadmus  killing  a*. dragon,  x    Ha 
$pent  a  part  of  his  life  at  Lyons,  and  there  died  in  lA^O^i. 
A  ceiling  at  the  town-house  of  that  place^  in  which  Blm-^. 
chet  displayed  the  wbple  force  of  his  taleiil;8,  was  burnt  by 
lire  in  1 674,  and  the  rest  of  his  works  perished  in  -the  revor^ 
lutipna^ry  destruction  to  which  that  city. was  doomed,  in 
1793.     This  pointer  excelled  in  history  and  portrsAts.  :.Hia: 
touches  ane  bold,  agreeable,  and.  easy,  biii  dmwing  tcorreety 
and  bis  colouring  excellent     SeveraLof  his  pictures  iitercp 
formerly  at  Paris.  *  .•<,:;..: 

BLAND  (Elizabeth),  a  lady  remarkable  both  for,  her 
knowledge  of  the  Hebrew,  language,  and  for  a  peculiar'*, 
skilfulness  in  writing  it,  was  born  about  the  time  of  the 
restoration,    and  was  .daughter  and  heir  of    Mr.  Robert 

.  Fisher  of  Long-acre«  .April  26,  1681,  she  marrjied  Mr^ 
Nathanael  Bland  (then  a  linen-draper  in  Londo.n,  after*" 
wards  lord  of  the  manor  pf  Bee^ton  in  Yorkshire),  by  wfa6m.' 
she  had  six  children,  who  all  died  in  th^vinfancy^  except-^ 
iug  one  son  named  Joseph,  and  a  daughter  called  Mac^a^  - 
who  was  married  to  Mr.  George  Moore  of  Beeston.  .  She.v 
was  instructed  in  the  Hebrew  language  by  the  lord  Y>aii 
Helmont, ,  which  she  understood  to  such  a  degree  pfper^' 
fection,  that  she  taught  it  to  her  son  and  daughter. 

Among. the  curiosities  of  the  Royal  Society  is  presented, 
of  her  writing,  a  phylactery  in  Hebrew,  of  which  Dr.  Grew 
has  given  us  a  description  in  his  <^  Account  of  rarities  pre<^ 
served  at  Gr^sham  college,''  London^iaSl,  folio.     It  was. 

^  written  by  her  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Th^resby,  and  sb^ 

J  Biog.  Univ.— Diet  Hist 

s  rUkinf  ton.-^X>'Ar^enTiU<«— ttogt  Univenelle. 


_    _  i 


BLAND.  401 

•        f 

» 

gave  it  to  that  repository.  By  the  two  pedigrees  of  the 
family,  printed  in  Mr.  Thoresby's  Ducatus  Leodiensis, 
pa^ea209  and  587,  it  seems  that  she  was  livinfg  in  1712. 
This  is  all  the  account  we  have  been  able  to  procure  either 
of  her  or  her  writings,  which  probably  were  considerable, 
as  her  attainments  in  this  one  branch  of  learning  were  so 
uncommon.  ^ 

BLANDRATA  (George),  a  man  who  acquired  some 
fame  in  the^^iikteenth  century  by  the  shallow  pretence  of 
free  inquiry,  was  born  in  the  marquisate  of  Saluzzo  in 
Italy.     He  appears  to  have  studied  medicine,  and  for  some 
time  practised  with  reputation,  but  the  various  opinions 
which  arose  out  of  the  reformation  from  popery  in  the  be- 
ginning af  th6  sixteenth  century,  having  excited  his  cu- 
riosity in  no  common  degree,  he  determined  to  try  them 
all,  and  began  with  abandoning  the  principles  of  popery  in 
which  he  had  been  educated,  for  those  of  Luther,  which 
he  quitted  soon  after  for  those  of  Calvin.     Not  satisfied 
with  this,  he  wished  to  retrace  more  ancient  opinions,  em- 
braced those  of  Arius,  then  inclined  to  the  doctrines  of 
Paul  of  Samosata,  and  finally  struck  out  6f  his  creed  all 
belief  m  the  incarnation  and  the  Trinity,  maintaining  that 
Jesus  Christ  was  a  mere  man,  and  no  niore  deserving  of 
religious  worship  than  any  other  man.    Stocked  with  these 
notions,  as  well  as  with  his  professional  knowledge,  he  had 
the  ambition  to  propagate  the  one  and  practise  the  other 
in  Germany,  Poland,  and  Transylvania.      In  Toland  he 
became  physician  to  the  queen  of  Sigismund  Augustus,  and 
having  insinuated  himself  into  the  good  graces  of  that 
prince,  began  to  communicate  to  him  his  religious  opinions, 
and  after  some  time  returned  to  Italy,  where  the  freedom 
he  took  in  divulging  these  occasioned  his  being  shut  up  in 
the  prison  of  the  inquisition  at  Pavia.     Having,  however, 
contrived  to  make  his  escape,  he  went  to  Geneva,  and 
became  a  warm  admirer  of  the  opinions  of  Servetus,  who 
had  recently  been  put  to  death  for  oppugning  the  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity.     On  this,  Calvin,  after  having  in  vain  en- 
deavoured to  reclaim  him  by  conference  and  correspond- 
ence, gave  him  up  to  justice,  which  Blandrata  escaped  by 
making  profession  of  Calvinism,  to  which  he  adhered  long 
enough  to  reach  Poland,  where  the  imposition  was  de- 
tected.    At  this  time,  John  Sigismund,  prince  of  Ti*an* 

1  Ballard'i  Memoirs  of  eniin«otLadks.  " 

Vol,  V.  Dd       '^  '   ' 


\ 


40S  B  L  A  N  O  R  A  T  A. 

* 

sylvania^  appointed  him  his  physician ;  and  being  a  man  ^ 
skill  be  found  means  to  insinuate  bis  principles  in  the  fami- 
lies which  employed  him.  In  1566,  at  Alba  Julia,  in  the 
presence  of  the  court,  he  held  a  public  conference  against 
the  Lutherans,  which  lasted  ten  days,  and  ended  in  bring- 
ing over  the  prince  and  the  nobles  of  Transylvania  to  uni- 
tarianism.  An  account  of  this  conference  was  printed  in 
1568,  4to,  entitled  ^^  Brevis  enarratio  disputationis  Al- 
bansB  de  Deo  trino  et  Christo  duplici.''  On  the  death  of 
Sigismund,  he  came  a  third  time  into  Poland,  and  was 
appointed  physician  and  counsellor  to  king  Stephen  Bat- 
tori  ;  but  as  he  found  this  monarch  unfriendly  to  his  reli« 
gious  tenets,  he  withdrew  himself  from  the  unitarians,  for 
which  he  was  severely  censured  by  Socinus,  who  hoped 
to  have  found  him  an  able  assistant,  and  had  invited  him 
to  Poland  with  that  view.  This  was  the  last  of  his  many 
changes  of  opinion ;  for  soon  after,  a  nephew  whom  he  had 
threatened  to  disinherit,  on  account  of  his  attachment  to 
popery,  put  him  to  death  in  a  violent  quarrel,  which  per- 
haps be  had  provoked  for  the  purpose.  This  appears  to 
have  taken  place  some  time  between  1585  and  1592. 
He  gave  so  little  satisfaction  to  any  party,  that  all  considered 
bis  death  as  a  judgment  on  his  apostacy.  Blandrata*s  works 
are  in  Sandius's  Anti-Trinitarian  library.  ^ 

BLANKENBURG  (Christian  Frederic  de),  a  Ger- 
man,writer  of  some  note,  was  horn  at  Colberg  in  Pomera- 
nia,  Jan.  24,  1744,  and  entered  into  the  Prussian  service 
at  the  age  of  fourteen,  where  he  distinguished  himself 
during  the  seven  years  war.  After  having  been  in  the  army 
for  twenty-one  years,  the  bad  state  of  his  health  obliged 
him  to  solicit  his  discharge,  which  was  granted  him  with 
the  rank  of  captain,  and  from  that  time  he  took  up  his  resi- 
dence at  Leipsic,  devoting  his  time  to  literary  studies  and 
pursuits.  He  was  a  man  of  good  taste^  as  well  as  judg- 
ment, and  had  a  very  great  memory.  His  original  works 
were,  1.  "An  essay  on  Roniance,**  Leipsic,  1774,  8vo. 
2.  **  A  supplement  to  Sulzer's  Universal  Theory  of  the 
Fine  Arts,"  1786 — 87,  four  parts,  8vo,  reprinted  at  Leipsic^ 
1792 — 94.  3.  "  On  the  German  language  and  literature,** 
printed  in  Adelung*s  Magazine  for  1784.  He  was  very- 
desirous  of  introducing  English  literature  into  his  country^ 
and  with  this  view  published  German  translations,  with 

1  Oea.  Dict^Biof .  Unir. 


BLANKENBURG.  ..   4o$ 

useful  notes,  of  Dr.  Gilbert  Stuart^'s  View  of  Society,  Leip- 
«c,  1779,  ^vo  ;  Dr.  Johnson's  Live^  of  the  Poets,  Alten- 
burgh,  1781—1785,  8vo ;  and  Dr.  Gillies's  History  of 
Greece,  Leipsic,  1787,  &c.     He  died  May  4,  1796,* 

BLANKOF  (John  Teunisz),  a  painter  of  great  abilities, 
was  born  at  Alkmaar  in  1628,  and  received  his  earliest  in- 
struction from  Arent  Tierling  :  but  afterwards  he  was  suc- 
cessively the  disciple  of  Peter  Scheyenburg  and  Caesar  Van 
Everdingen.  When  he  had  spent  some  years  with  those 
masters,  he  went  to  Rpme,  where,  during  his  continuance 
in  that  city,  he  carefully  copied  the  works  of  the  best 
masters,  and  was  admitted  into  the  society'  of  Flemish 
painters  called  Bentvogels^  who  gave  him  the  name  of  Jan 
Maat  (which  in  Dutch  signifies  mate  or  companion),  and 
by  that  name  he  is  most  generally  known.  His  subjects 
were  landscapes,  with  views  of  rivers  or  sea-shores,  havens 
or  ports,  which  he  executed  with  a  light  free  pencil ;  and 
in  the  representation  of  storms  and  calms  (as  nature  was 
always  his  model)  he  described  those  subjects  with  great 
tnitli,  exactness,  and  neatness  of  handling.  The  pictures 
of  this  master  which  are  most  commended  are  the  Italian 
sea-ports,  with  vessels  lying  before  them.  He  possessed  a 
lively  imaginatibn ;  lior  was  his  hand  less  expeditious  than 
his  thoughts ;  and  the  connoisseurs  agreed  in  opinion,  that 
if  he  had  bestowed  more  labour  on  his  pictures  than  he 
usually  did,  so  as  to  finish  them  more  highly,  he.  would 
certainly  have  destroyed  a  great  deal  of  their  spirit,  force, 
and  effect.  His  most  capital  performance  is  a  view  of  the 
sea-shore,  with  the  waves  retiring  at  ebb  tide ;  which  is 
described  by  Houbraken  as  being  wonderfully  beautiful 
and  natural.     He  died  in  1670.* 

BLASE,  a  saint  and  martyr,  and  according  to  the  Bre- 
viary, bishop  of  Sebasta  in  Cappadocia,  deserves  this  slight 
notice,  as  a  person  of  great  note  among  the  vulgar,  who  iii 
their  processions  of  the  wool-trade,  always  carry  an  effigies 
or  representation  of  him,  as  the  inventor  or  patron  of  their 
art  of  combing  it.  There  was  an  order  of  knighthood  also 
instituted  in  honour  of  him ;  and  his  day,  which  stands  now 
marked  in  our  Calendar,  was  Feb.  3.  He  suffered  death 
in  the  reign  of  Dipclesian,  about  the  year  283,  according 
to  the  Legenda  Aurea,  but  the  English  version  of  that 
book  baft  the  year  387,  neither  of  which  dates  are  strictly 

.  UniTenelk,  *  Pilkington. 

DP  2 


#04  B  L  A  S  E« 

true,  since  Dioolesian  did  not  succeed  to  the  empire  till 
the  year  28  S  and  died  before  the  latter  date.  Before  bts 
death,  which  was  by  beheading,  he  was  whipped^  and  had 
his  flesh  toxa/erreis  pcciinibtiSj  with  iroti  combs ;  aadLtbis 
«eems  to  be  the  only  foundation  for  the  respect  paid  to  his 
memory  by  wool-combers*  Thus  far  the  learned  ;antt<» 
quary  Dr.  Pegge,  in  a  letter  on  the  history  of  St.  Biases 
but  Butler,  in  his  "  Lives  of  the  Saints,"  fixes  his  death -iti 
the  year  316,^  when  be  was  martyred  in  the  persecution  ^ 
(.icinius,  by  the  command  of  Agricolaas^  govfnrnor  of  Caj^** 
padqcia  and  the  lesser  Arnfienia.  ^  < .  .    ;. 

BLAYNEY  (Benjamik),  D.  D.  an  eminent  Hebrew  eri^ 
tic,  canon  of  Christ  churcii,  regius  professor  of  Hebrew*  ih 
the  university  of  Oxford,  1787,  and  rector  of.P^dshotftv^ 
first  of  Worcester  college,  where  he  proceeded  M.  A;  VT5^% 
afterwards  fellow  of  Hertford  college,  where  he  took  tto 
degree  of  B.  D.  1768,  and  of  D.D.  1787  ;  and  was  histallefl 
Hebrew  professor.  Dec.  7..  of  that  year. .  Ue  was  also  some 
time  a  Whitehall  .preacher.      Ue   disttoguisheil  faimaelf 
^  greatly  as  a  scriptund  commentator  and  translaton    He 
published,  1*  '^  A  disseidtatioii,:  by  way  of  einpiiry  iin^the 
true  import  and  application  of.  the  Vision  related  Dam^ix^ 
20  to  the  end,  usuallycalledDanters  Prophecy  of  Seventy 
Weeks ;  with  occasional  remarks  on  Micbael^alettentostr 
John  Pringle  on  the  same  subject,  17741,^'  4to«     2.  ^  Jeve* 
iniah  and  LamentatioAisy  a  new  translation,  with  notes  cri- 
tical, philosophical,  and  ejtplanatoiy,  17)84/*  8to.  3^  ^f  Tlw 
Sign  givea  to  Al)(^,  »  discpurse  on  Isaiah  vii.  14|  11,  16, 
delivered  in  the  chprch   of   St  John,    Devices,   at  .die 
triennial  visitation  of  Shute^  lord  bishop  .of  Saruroi  Jdly^tf, 
1786  ;  with  a  proposed  emeudatioa  oi  ai.passage  in  hia  dis«« 
sertatipn  on  Daniel,''  1786,  4to.     4.  >';  Christ  the  grestier 
glory  of  the  temple,  a  sermon,  preached  before  the  otni* 
versity  of  Oxford,  at  Christ  church,  Nov.  9,  I788','^4te. 
5.  '*  Zechariah,   a  new  translation,    with  notes*  critical, 
jphilosophical,   and   explanatory  ;    and   ati  Appendiix^    in 
reply  to  Dr.  Eveleigh's  Sermon  on  Zechariah  i.  6r-*l  1  (to 
which  is  added,  a  new  edition,  with  alterations,  df  the 
dissertation  on  Daniel),  1797,**  4to.     In  this  disserti^on 
on  Daniel  the  study  and  criticism  of  this  learned  divine 
produced  a  translation  very  diflferent  from  that  in  the  con* 
inon  English  Bible,  as  well  /.as  from  that  of  Michaelia.    It 

1  Oeat  Ma^  1775  and  n'Ti.— B«tkr>  Lirtf  of  the  Saiatf.    - 


4 


3LAYNEY.  *6S 


I     f    •x 


is  less  liable  to  objection^  particalarly  as  it  has  no  recourse 
tathabt  ingenious  but  tincertam  and  unsatisfying  method  of 
odmputation  by  lunar  years ;  it  extends  also  to  those  verses 
of  the  chapter  which  Dr.  Michaelis  seemed  to  give  up  ai 
inexplicable,  almost  in  despair  of  ever  attaining  a  probable 
solution  of  the  difficulty.  The  translation  of  Jeremiah  and 
Lamentations  is  oh  the  plan  of  Dr.  Lowth^s  Isaiah,  and 
does'  credit  •to  its  author  both  as  a  translator  and  a  critic. 
The  same  may  be  said  respecting  the  translation  of  Ze* 
chariah ;  and  it  may  be  added,  that  the  candour  and  libera^ 
Jity  which  Dr.  Biayney  opposes,*  in  this  instance,  to  the  in- 
temperance and  acrimony  of  one  of  his  antagonists,  do  him 
<great  .honour.  The  doctor  also  took  uncommon  pains  in 
correcting  thg^text  of  the  edition  of  the  opmmon  version  of 
•the  English  Bible,  which  was  printed  at  the  Clarendon 
press  in  1769,  4to.^  He  made  a  great  number  of  additional 
references  in  the  margin,  and  produced  the  most  correct 
BtiUesn  our  language ;  Init,  unfortunately,  a  large  part  of 
tbe  impression  wassooA  after  burned  at  the  Bible  ware* 
'hoiisein  Paternoster  row,  and  it  is  now  ranked  among  the 
9nostS()iaix»  and  valuable  edhions. 
'  Dr^Blayney  died  at  Polshot,  Sept.  20,  1801,  and  di« 
reoted-by  will,  thist  his  critical  papers  should  first  be  sub* 
mitted  to  his  much* valued  peEtron  and  friend,  the  present 
bishop  of  Durham,  and  then  deposited  in  the  library  at 
Lambeth*  They  consist  of,  1.  New  vension  of  the  Psalms, 
^2  vglsu  4ta  2.  Critical  comment  on  the  Psalms,  3  vols. 
4to.'.3«.  Notes  on  Isaiah,  3  vols«  4to.  4.  Remarks  on 
lhe.'!Minor<  Prophets,  compared  vrith  bishop  Newcomers 
version.and  commentary,  ivol.  4to.  5.  Remarks  on  the 
Song  of  Moses,  ^  Psalm  xviit.  compared  with  2  Sam.  xxii ; 
and  Deborah's  Song;  and  Jaicob's  Blessing,  Gen.  xlix ; 
'and  Moses's  Blessing,  Deut.  xxxiii;  and  Moses's  Moni* 
lory.  Song,  Deut  xxxii.  6.  Further  observations  on  some 
of  the  Psahsis ;  and  on  some  chapters  of  Isaiah  ;  and  on 
several  of  the  minor  Prophets,  particularly  Zechariah, 
-iToLfdio.  * 

'  BLEGNY  (Nicholas),  a  French  surgeon,  or  physician, 
"*cf  the  seventeenth  century,  by  uniting  the  quack  and  the 
D^ular,  acquired  a  considerable  degree  of  reputation,  and 
belongs  to  a  class,  we  fear,  pretty  numerous  in  ottier  coun-* 
tries  as  well  a^  France.    ^He  began  his  career  as  a  truss- 

t  Gent.  Ma^.  1801—1803. 


\ 


40e  B  L  E  G  N  Y. 

maker^  and  then  placed  himself  at  the  be;id  of  ah  academj 
of  bis  own  creation  for  medical  discoveries,  the  memoirs  of 
which  were  published  monthly,    and  we  presume  there 
must  have  been  some  papers  of  consequence  among  them, 
as  the  celebrated  Bonnet  translated  those  of  the  first  three 
years  into  Latin,  and  published  them  under  the  title  of 
**  Zodiacus  Medico-Gallicus/'   1680,  4to.     The  liberties, 
however,  which  Blegny  took  with  the  characters  of  some 
physicians  of  reputation  occasioned  the  suppression  of  these 
memoirs  in  1682,  yet  he  continued  to  write,  and  sent  his 
papers  to  one  Gauthier,  a  physician  of  Niort,  who  publish- 
ed them  at  Amsterdam  in   16^4,  under  the  title  of  the 
**  Mercure  savant.''   In  the  mean  time  Blegny  endeavoured 
to  make  himself  famous,  and  that  nothing  might  be  want- 
ing to  shew  his  variety  of  talents  he  added  to  surgei*y  and 
pharmacy  a  course  of  lectures  on  wig-making*     For  some 
time  he  appears  to  have  imposed  on  the  court  itself,  as 
we  find  that  in  1678  he  was  appointed  surgeon  in  ordi^ 
nary  to  the  queen;  in   1683  surgeon  in  ordinary  to  the 
duke    of  Orleans;    and  in    1687,  physician   in  ordinary 
to  the  king:  but  in   1693,   his   real  character  becoming 
more  apparent,  he  was  stripped  of  these  honours  for  havings 
attempted  to  establish  an  order  of  knighthood,  and  sent  to 
prison  at  the  castle  of  Angers,  where  he  was  confined  for 
eight  years.     After  his  release,  he  retired  to  Avignon^ 
where  he  died  in  1722,  aged  about  seventy.    He  published 
various  works,  now  in  little  estimation. ' 
.    BLESS  (Henry),  a  painter  of  history  and  landscape, 
was  born  at  Bovine,  near  Dinant,  in  1480.     He  acquired 
his  skijl  in  the  art  merely  by  the  strength  of  his  natural 
genius,  assisted  by  a  diligent  study  and  observatioii  of  the 
works  of  Patenier,  without  having  any  other  instructor  : 
and  at  last  rendered  himself  very  eminent,  particularly  by 
his  landscapes.     His  best  performances  ^ere  bought  up 
by  the  emperor  Rodolph,  and  they  are  still  preserved  at 
Vienna.     His  style  of  composition  in  historical  subjects 
resembled  the  style  of  the  Flemish  artists  of  that  age,  and 
exhibited  a  great  number  of  figures  finished  with  extreme 
neatness.     But  he  crowded  several  subjects  into  one  de** 
sign ;  as  in  his  picture  of  the  disciples  at  Emmaus,  he 
represented  not  only  that  incident,  but  in  different  groupes 
disposed  in  the  back  ground,  he  represented  likewise  the 

>  Biog.  UnimMlIe.— Morcri.— Haller  BibL  Mtd.  Fract.  foU  III. 


BLESS.  407 

different  parts  of  the  passion  of  our  Saviour.  And  yet^ 
notwitbstancfing  the  impropriety  pf  that  manner  of  com* 
posing^  bis  pictures  were  so  delicately  pencilled  and  fi- 
nished, and  his  landscapes  in  particular  so'  agreeably  in- 
vented, so  full  of  variety,  and  well  executed,  that  even  in 
Itdy  his  works  were  in  great  request,  and  were  distin- 
guished there  by  the  appellation  of  the  owl-pictures  :  for 
he  fixed  an  owl,  as  his  peculiar  mark,  in  every  picture  he 
painted  ;  by  which  the  works  of  this  master  are  always  in- 
disputably known.     He  died  in  1550.* 

BLETERIE,  or  BLETTERIE  (John  Philip  Rene  de 
la),  was  born  at  Rennes,  Feb.  25, 1696,  and  entered  early 
into  the.  congregation  of  the  oratory,  where  he  was  a  dis- 
tinguished professor.  The  order  against  wigs,  which  seems 
to  have  raised  very  serious  scruples,  occasioned  his  quitting 
it;  but  he  retained  the  friendship  and  esteem  of  his  former « 
brethren.  He  then  went  to  Paris,  where  his  talents  pro- 
cured him  the  professorship  of  eloquence  in  the  college- 
royal,  and  a  place  in  the  academy  of  belles^  lettres.  He 
published  several  works,  which  have  been  well  received  by 
the  public-:  J.  *^  The  Life  of  the  Emperor  Julian,"  Paris, 
1735,  1746,  12mo,  a,  curious  performance,  well  written, 
and  distinguished  at  once  by  impartiality,  precision,  ele* 
gance  and  judgment,  and  which  was  translated  into  English 
under  the  inspection  of  Mr.  Bowyer  in  1746.  2>  "  The 
History  of  the  Emperor  Jovian,^*  with  translations  of  some 
works  of  the  emperor  Julian,  Paris,  1748,  2  vols.  12mo,  n 
book  no  less  valuable  than  the  former,  by  the  art  with 
which  the  author  has  .selected,  arranged  and  established 
facts,  and  by  the  free  and  varied  turns  of  the  translator* 
This  was  abridged  by  Mr.  Duncombe  in  the  *•  Select 
Works  of  the  Emperor  Julian,"  1784,  2  vols.  8vo.  The 
life  of  Jovian,  however,  seems  much  inferior  to  that  of 
Julian.  But  the  difference  may  be  owing  to  the  character 
of  those  two  persons,  the  one  being  an  obje<^t  of  much 
ihore  interest  than  the  other.  3.  A  translation  of  some 
works  of  Tacitus,  Paris,  1755,  2  vols.  l2mo.  The  man- 
ners of  the  Germans,  and  the  life  of  Agricola,  are  the  two 
pieces  comprised  in  this  version,  which  is  equally  elegant 
and  faithful.  Prefixed  is  a  Life  of  Tacitus,  which  is  also 
worthy  of  this  writer,  and  was  admired  for  strength  of 
sentiment  and  animation  of  style.     For  this  historian  the 

1  Klkini^oii.— Biog.  Uair. 


'    408  B  L  E  T  E  R  I  E. 

t 

abb6  de  la  Bleterie  Jiad  an  uncommon  predilection ;  he 
spoke  of  bim  incessantly  to  his  friends.  **  To  Tacitiis,^* 
said  be,  **  I  am  much  indebted  ;  I  ought  therefore  in  jus- 
tice to  dedicate  to  his  glory  the  remainder  of  my  lifer." 
4.  ^*  Tiberius,  or  the  six  first  books  of  the  Annals  of  Ta« 
citus,  translated  into  French,^'  Paris,  1768,  3  vols.  I2mo» 
This  work  was  not  so  popular  among  his  countrymen,  who 
.  l)Iame  the  affected  style,  and  say  they  very  seldom  dis* 
cover  in  it  the  elegant  historian  of  Julian.  It  occasibnibd 
at  the  tjme  these  two  lines :      ' 

Desdogmes de  (Quesnelun triste proselyte 
En  bourgeois  du  M arais  ialt  parler  Tacite. 

This  translation  is  in  other  respects  sufficiently  etskt. 
:$•  *^  Lietters  occasioned  by  the  account  of  Quietism  given 
by  M.  Pbelipeaux,"  1733,  12mo.  This  pamphlet,  which 
js  scarce,  and  very  well  wr^tten^  contains  a  defence  of  the 
ct»nduct  of  madame  de  Guyon*  6.  Some  highly  esteemed 
^dissertatiplTs  in  the.  memoirs  of  the  academy  of  belles 
lettres*  7*  '^  Most  humble  Remonstrances  of  M.  de  Mon- 
teinpuis;'*  an  obscure  and  indifferent  work,  in  favour  of  a 
pedant,  who  had  made  himself  ridiculous  by  an  s^bsurd  and 
unludky  adventure.  The  abb£  de  la  ^leterie  died  at  an 
advanced  age,  June  1,  1772.  He  was  a  man  of  learning, 
attached  to  religion,  and  his  morals  did  not  belie  his 
principles.  His  knowledge  being  solid  and  diversified, 
gendered  hi$  conversation  useful  and  interesting.     With 

.  3pund  ratbeir  than  brilliant  talents,  endowed  with  more 
judgment  than  imagination,  he  had  the  merit  of  knowing 
how  to  Qhoose  his  friend^,  and  how  to  retain  them. 

Besides  the  works  above-mentioned,  Bleterie  was  editor 

.  of  Masclef 's  Hebrew  Grw^mar ;  when  studying  that  lan-> 
,guage  he  took  a  fancy  to  Masclef^s  method,  and  in  order 
to  support  it,  published  a  work  entitled  <<  Vindicise  me- 
.thodi  Masclefianse,^'  ih  elegant  Latin,  and  afterwards  in* 

.  #er^4.it  in  \;ds  edition  of  the  grammar  published  in  1731. 

.  .We  rhai^e  already  mentioned  that  he  was  a  member  of  the 
9^deq[)y  pf  belles-lettres,  and  was  a  candidate  for  the 
French  ^acadeipy.     His  rival  on  this  occasion  was  Racine, 

.  thesooy  but  bo^  wer^  r^ected  as  Jansenists.  Bleterie 
cubminpd  to  tb|9  disappointment,  and  when  his  friends 
/  .were  about. to  interest  themselves  in  the  repeal  of  this 
sentence  of  exclusion,  he  would  upon  no  account  co->ope« 
rate  with  them,  contenting  himself  with  the  esteem  of  the 
academicians^  who^  the  president  Henault  says,  consi- 

I 


B  L  E  T  E  II  I  E.  409 

..dered  him  as  a  colleague  of  whom  they  had  been  de« 
prived.  * 

BLOCH  (Mark  Eliezer),  an  eminent  naturalist,  and 
a  Jew  by  birth,  was  born  at  Anspech,  in  1723,  of  very 
poor  parents.     He  began  to  study  very  late ;  at  the  age  of 
nineteen,  be  knew  neither  German  or  Latin,  and  had  read 
.  only  some  of  the  writings  of  the  Rabbis,  notwithstanding 
.  which,  lie  was  employed  as  a  tutor  in  the  family  of  a  Jew 
..surgeon   at  Hamburgh.     There  he  himself  was  taught 
German,  and  a  poor  Bohemian  Catholic  gave  him  some 
instructions  in  Latin  ;  he  picked  up  also  somejknowiedge 
of  anatomy.     Afterwards  he  made  rapid  progress  in  re- 
gaining lost  time,  and  having  removed  to  live  with  some 
relsfltions  he  had  at  Berlin,  he  applied  himself  with  eager* 
iieds  and  success  to  the  study  of  anatomy  and  natural  bis- 
\  tory,  and  received  a  doctor's  degree  at  Francfort  on  the 
Oder,'  with  which  he  returned  to  practise  as  a  physician 
at  Berlin,   Here  the  celebrated  naturalist  Martini  procured 
him  to  be  elected  a  member  of  the  society  of  the  '^  Curious 
in  nat\ire,'*    and'  he  soon  became   highly  distinguished 
t   among  the  scientific  men  of  his  time.     He  died  Aug.  6, 
1 799j  in  the  seventy-sixth  year  of  his  age.     His  principal 
' ''work  was  his  "  Natural  history  of  Fishes,  particularly  those 
*    of  the  Prussian  states,"  four  parts,  Berlin,  1781  and  1782, 
'    large  4to.     He  wrote  afterwards  a  ^*  Natural  history  of 
'    foreign  Fishes,'*  Berlin,  1784,  and  "The  natural  history 
of  German  Fishes,**  178^.  These  different  works,  of  which 
the  descriptions  are  in  German,  were  afterwards  united 
'    under  the  title  of ''  Ichthyology,  or  the  natural  history  of 
Fishes,**  Berlin,  1785,  12  vols.  4to,  published  by  subscrip- 
'    tion,  in  seventy-two  parts;  the  text  was  translated  into 
^^    French  by  Laveaux,  and  was  published  in  12  vols.  fol.  and 
reprinted  in   1795.     Thi?  is  unquestionably  one  of  the 
'  '  itiost  splendid  books  in  natural  history,   but  the  author, 
~ ;  who  had  begun  to  have  his  drawings,  engravings,  and  the 
colouring  executed  at  his  own  expence,  never  could  have 
completed  it,  had  not  his  countrymen  considered  it  as  a 
national  work,  and  princes,  nobles,  and  amateurs,  came 
forward  with  the  most  liberal  assistance,  and  enabled  him 
to  finish  the  last  six  volumes  upon  the  same  scale  of  ele* 
gance  as  the  former.     The  French  edition  in  .12  vols.  8vo, 
Berlin,  1796,   is  greatly  inferior  to  the  former.     Block 

y  Siog.  UmTeneUei«»Dt€t*  Hiit 


410  B  L  Q  C  H. 

wrote  alsoy  a  *^  Treatise  on  the  generation  of  worms  in  tht 
intestines,  and  on  the  method  of  destroying  them/'  which 
gained  the  prize  offered  by  the  royal  society  of  Denmark, 
and  was  printed  at  Berlin,  1782,  4to,  and  a  ^<  Treatise  oq 
the  waters  of  Pyrmont|"  both  in  German,  Hamburgh, 
1774,  8vo.  * 

BLOCH  (Georgs  Castaneus),  bishop  of  Ripen, 
in  Denmark,  who  was  born  in  1717,  and  died  in  1773^ 
cultivated  the  science  of  bota,ny,  particularly  with  a  view 
to  illustrate  those  passages  of  Scripture  in  which*  plants, 
&c.  are  mentioned.  In  1767,  he  published  at  Copen- 
hagen *^  Tentamen  Phcenicologices  sacra,  seu  dissertatio 
embleinatico^theologicade  Palma,''  8vo,  a  work  containing 
many  curious  remarks  on  the  palm  or  date- tree  of  Pales- 
tine and  Idumea,  which  was  caflled  the  phesnix  by  the 
Greeks  and  most  of  the  eastern  nations.  It  often  occura 
in  the  Bible,  and  the  learned  author  has  collected  and  ex- 
plained the  several  passages.  This  species  of  p^dm  is  the 
phoenix  dactylifera  of  modern  botanists. — ^A  third  author  of 
the  same  name,  JoH(4  Erasmus  Block,  i£  Danish  gardener, 
published  at  Copenhagen  a  treatise  on  the  art  of  culti- 
vating gardens,  under  the  title  "  Horticultui^  Danica,** 
1647,  4to.* 

BLOCK  (Joanna  Koertei^),  a  female  artist,  on  whose 
singular  talents  Descamps  has  bestowed  a  long  article,  was 
born  at  Amsterdam,  Nov.  17,  1650.  Her  genius  first 
showed  itself  in  wax  models  of  fruit,  &c.  beautifully  cor 
loured ;  she  then  engraved  with  diamond  on  crystal  and 
glass^  and  copied  paintings  in  coloured  silks,  but  at  last 
devoted  I^er  whole  time  to  cutting  paper,  in  which  she 
excelled.  Whatever  others  produced  in  a  print  by  » 
graver,  she  effected  by  a  pair  of  scissars.  In  this  way  she 
executed  all  kinds  of  subjects ;  landscapes,  sea-pieces, 
animals,  flowers,  &c.  and  even  portraits,  in  which  the  re- 
semblance was  preserved  in  a  striking  degree.  This  new 
art  of  expressing  representations  of  objects  upon  white 
paper  became  the  object  of  universal  curiosity,  and  the 
artist  was  encouraged  by  all  the  courts  of  Europe^  The 
elector  Palatine  offered  her  a  thousand  florins  (about  an 
hundred  guineas)  for  three  little  pieces,  which  she  refused. 
The  empress  of  Germany  gave  her  orders  for  a  trophy 
with  the  arms  of  the  emperor  Leopold  I.     In  this  piece 

1  Siog.  UnvrerteHe^  *  Ibid. 


BLOCK.  411 

were  crowns  supported  by  eagles,  and  round  the  borders 
garlands  of  flowers,  and  other  ornaments  relative  to  the 
subject,  for  which  she  received  four  thousand  florins.  She 
also  cut  the  portrait  of  the  emperor,  which  in  Descamps'  • 
time  was  preserved  in  the  emperor's  cabinet  at  Vienna. 
'Her  works  were  all  in  a  correct  and  beautiful  style.  She 
died  Dec.  28,   1715.*  .  ^ 

BLOEMART  (Abraham),  painter  of  landscape,  cattle, 
history,  and  portrait,  was  born  at  Gorcum  in  1564,  ac« 
cording  to  Houbraken ;  but  according  to  Sandrart,  whose 
authority  seems  to  claim  the  preference,  he  was  born  in 
1567,  and  lived  mostly  at  Utrecht.  In  his  youth  he  ap« 
plied  himself  diligently  to  design  after  the  works  of  Francis 
Floris,  and  afterwards  received  instructions  from  several 
artists  of  no  great  repute ;  but  the  power  of  his  own  ge- 
nius proved  his  principal  director  in  the  art  of  painting.  . 
He  formed  a  manner  peculiar  to  himself,  making  nature  his 
model  for  many  of  the  objects  he  painted,  particularly  his 
cattle,  in  which  he  excelled.  He  died  in  1647.  He  left 
four  sons,  two  of  thetn,  Henry  and  Adrian,  ^ere  artists 
of  considerable  merit,  but  inferior  to  the  youngest,  the 
subject  of  the  following  article.  * 

BLOEMART  ^CpRNEUUs),  the  youngest  son  of  Abra- 
ham, was  born  in  1603,  at  Utrecht  Th^  first  principles 
of  drawing  and  painting  he  learned  from  his  father;  but 
bis  natural  inclination  for  the  art  of  engraving  was  so 
powerful,  that  he  applied  himself  wholly  to  the  pursuit  of 
it.  He  first  studied  under  Crispin  de  Pass,  an  engraver 
much  more  famous  for  the  neatness  than  the  good  taste  of 
his  works.  Not  i^atisfied  with  what  he  learned  from  this 
artist,  he  went  to  Rome,  in  order  to  profit  by  studying  the 
works  of  the  greatest  masters ;  and  in  that  city  (where  the 
i^r.  greater  part  of  his  engravings  were  made)  he  died  in  a 
very  advanced  age.  **  The  manner  of  engraving  adopted 
by  this  excellent  artist,  appears  to  me  (says  Mr.  Strutt)  to 
be  not  only  quite  original,  but  the  source  from  which  we 
may  trace  that  style  in  which  the  greatest  and  best  French 
masters  excelled;  those,  I  mean,  who  worked  with  the 
graver  only.  He  covered  the  lights  upon  his  distances, 
and  the  other  parts  of  his  plates  which  required  tinting, 
with  great  care.  The  lights,  whether  on  the  distant  hills, 
trees,  buildings,  or  figures,*  in  the  engravings  prior  to  bis 

^  Deseampiy  toL  III.  >  PilkiDgtOB.—A^enTiUe.— Strutt 


412  B  L  O  E  M  A  R  T. 

time,  bad  been  left  quite  dear,  and  by  so  many  white 
i^pots  scattered  iu  various  parts  of  the  same  design,  the 
harmony  was  destroyed,  the  subject  confused,  and  the 
principal  figures  prevented  from  relieving  with  any  str&ing 
effect.  By  this  judicious  improvement,  Bloemart  gave  to 
his  prints  a  more  clear  and  finished  a{>pearance  tbari  ail 
the  laboured  neatness  even  of  Jerome  Wierix  had  been 
able  to.  produce.  He -drew  correctly ;  but  from  his  style 
of  engravmg,  which  was  executed  entirely  with  the  gravvri 
the  extremities  of  his  figures  are  heavy,  $ind  his  heads  are 
not  always  equally  beautiful  or  expressive.  With  respeci 
to  the  mechanical  part  of  the  work,  few  indeed  have  exi» 
celled  him,  either  in  clearness  or  freedom  of  exeontion* 
His  great  fault,  however,  is  want  of  variety*  The  naked 
parts  of  his  figures,  the  duperies,  and  the  back*'groutkl; 
afe  equally  neat,  and  engraved  precisely  in  the  same  man«- 
ner.  Hence  the  effect  is  flat ;  and  the  flesh,  for  want  of 
sufficient-distinction,  appears  cold  and  silvery.  His  works 
are  justly  held  in  high  estimation.  They  are  rery  nusnie^ 
rous,  and  many  of  theqci  difficult  to  be  procured.'*  ^ 

BLOND  (Christo^er  L£),  was  an  artist  of  whose  lifib 
we  have  very  few  particulars^  .till  he  was  known  at  Rome^ 
in  the  year  1716^  bein|(  at  that  time  painter  to  count  Mar« 
tinetz ;  and  his  reputatiQn,  as  a  good  painter  of  portrait  in 
miniature^  was  well  established  in  Italy.  By  the  solicitfrv 
tion  of  Overbeke,  he  was  induced  to  go  to  Amsterdani^ 
and  in.  that  city  was  employed  to  paint  small  portraits  ibf 
bracelets,  rings,  and  snuff-boxes ;  and  although  they  wseve 
painted  in  water-colouis,  yet  the  colouring  was  as  lively 
and  as  natural  as  if  they  bad  been  painted  iti  oil.  How* 
ever,  as  he  found  his  si^t  much  impaired  by  the  minute* 
ness  of  his  work)  he  discontinued  water«<iolour  paintings 
and  attempted  the  use  of  oil,  with  a  reasonable  degree  of 
success.  After  he  bad  resided  for  some  years  in  ibe  Low 
Countries,  he  went  to  England,  and  set  up  a  new  method 
of  printing  mezzotioto  plates  in  cplourssoas  to  imitate 
the  pictures  of  which  t,bey  were  copies*  In  this  noanner 
he  executed  in  England  several  large  plates»  from  pictures 
of  the  greatest  masters,  and  disposed  of  the  priiDts  by  lot- 
tery. But  those  who  obtained  the  priaes  (Mr.  Strutt  says) 
appear  not  to  have  held  them  in  apy  very  great  estimation; 
^*  The.  prints,*'  he  adds,  ^<  certainly  possess  some  merit, 

1  Pil1dBgtoa.>»Arg€aTiUe.«ii^rutt. 


B  L  O  K  D.  41S 

exclusive  of  their  novelty;   but,  in  general^  the  colours 
l^re  flat  and  dirty ;  the  eifect  is  neither  striking  nor  judt* 
oibusly  managed  ;  and  the  drawing  is  frequently  very  iti« 
correct,  especially  in  the  extremities  of  his  iigurea.*^    Mr. 
Pilkington  speaks  of  them  with  greater  approbation :  ^^Tbe 
artist/^  be  says,  ^^  imitated  his  models  with  so  much  skill, 
such  exact  resemblance,  such  correctness  of  outline,  such 
aimilarity  of  colour  and  expression,   that  at  first  they 
amazed  every  beholder  who  viewed  them  at  a  proper  dis- 
^nce ;  and  many  of  those  prints  are  still  extant,  which 
are  much  esteemed  by  persons  of  good  taste.'*     And  Mr. 
Walpole  observes,  that  some  heads,  coloured  progressively*, 
according  to  their  several  gradations,  bear  witness  to  the 
success  and  beauty  of  his  invention.     He  had.  another 
merit  to  the  public,  ivith  which  few  inventors  beg^n ;  for 
he  communicated  his  secret  in  a  thin  quarto,    etidtleA 
**  Coloritto,  or  the  harmony  of  colouring  in  painting  re- 
duced to  mechanical  practice,  under  easy  precepts  and 
infallible  rules."     His  method  was  performed  by  sever^ 
roezxotinto  plates  for  one  piece,   each  expressing  dif» 
ferent  shades  and  parts  of  the  piece  in  different  colpuhi. 
He  was  not,  however,  it  is  said,  the  original  iirventor  of 
that  manner  of  managing  colpurs,  but  took  it  from  Last« 
maft'  and  others,  who,   with  much  greater  regularity  of 
morals,  equal  capacities,  and  more  discreet  conduct,  had 
before  undertaken  it  without  success. .  Xe  Blond,  whose 
Vead  was  continually  full  of  schemes,  next  set  on  foot  a 
project  for  cc^ying  the  cartoons  of  Raphael  in  tapestr}^ 
aad  made  drawings  from  the  pictures  for  that  purpose. 
Houses  were  built  and  looms  erected   at  the  Mulberry 
'Grotmd  at  Chelsea;  but  the  expences  being  too  great; 
es-the  contribntions  not  equal  to  the  first  expectations/  th^ 
l^heme  was  suddenly  defeated,  and  Le  Blond  disappeared, 
to  the  no  small  dissatisfaction  of  those  who  were  engaged 
with  him.     From  hence  he  went  to  Paris,  where,  Basan 
infiirms  us,  he  was  in  the  year  1737  ;  and  in  that  city  he 
died,  1740,  in  an  hospital.     Le  Blond  was   also  author 
mS(H  trea^e,  in  French,  on  ideal  beauty.     It  was  published 
iajl732,  and  has  sii^ce  been  translated  into  English. ' 

BLONDKL  (David),  a  protestant  minister,  i?ele- 
Iterated  for  Im  knowledge  in  ecclesiastical  and  civil 
history,  was  born,  at  Chalons  in  Champagne,  1591.  He 
Ws  admitted  minister  at  a  synod  of  the  isle  of  Frattce  in 
1614.     A  few  years  afterwards  he  began  to  write  in  de* 


414  B  L  O  N  D  E  L. 

/ 

t 

fence  <5f  protestantism,  for  in  1619  he  published  a  treatise 
entitled  "  Modeste  declaration  de  la  sincerity  et  verite  des 
Eglises  Reform6es  de  France."  This  was  an  answer  to  se- 
Teral  of  the  catholic  writers,  especially  to  the  bishop  of 
Lucon,  so  well  known  afterwards  under  the  title  of  car- 
dinal Richelieu.  From  this  time  he  was  considered  as  a 
person  of  great  hopes.  He  was  secretary  more  than  twenty 
times  in  the  synods  of  the  isle  of  France,  and  was  deputed 
four  times  successively  to  the  national  synods.  That  of 
Castres  employed  him  to  write  in  defence  of  the  Protes- 
tants. The  natiq^ial  synod  of  Charenton  appointed  him 
honorary  professor  in  1645,  with  a  handsome  salary,  which 
had  never  been  grs^ted  to  any  professor  before.  He  wrote 
several  pieces ;  but  what  gained  him  most  favour  amongst, 
the  Protestants  are,  his  "  Explications  on  the  Eucharist  ;'* 
his  work  entitled  "  De  la  primaut6  d'Eglise  ;"  his  "  Trea- 
tise of  the  Sybils;*'  and  his  piece  "  De  episcopis  et  pres- 
byteris."  Some  of  his  party,  however,  were  dissatisfied 
with  him  for  engaging  in  disputes  relating  to  civil  history ; 
and  particularly  offended  at  the  book  he  published  to 
shew  that  what  is  related  about  pope  Joan  is  a  ridiculous 
fable* 

Upon  the  death  of  Vossius  he  was  invited  to  succeed 
him  in  the  history  professorship  in  the  college  of  Amster- 
dam. He  accoi^dingly  went  thither  in  1650,  where  he 
continued  his  studies  with  great  assiduity,  but  intense  ap?- 
plication,  and  the  air  of  the  country  not  agreeing  with 
him,  greatly  impaired  his  health,  and  deprived  him  of  bis 
sight*  In  this  condition  he  is  said  to  have  dictated  two 
volumes  in  folio,  on  the  genealogy  of  the  kings  of  France^ 
against  Chifflet,  a  work  which  we  are  told  he  undertook  at 
the  desire  of  chancellor  Seguier.  He  had,  likewise,  some  • 
uneasiness  in  Holland,  from  being  suspected  of  Armi- 
nianism,  and  for  being  the  author  of"  Considerations  re- 
ligieuses  et  politiques,"  which  he  published  during  the 
war  betwixt  Cromwell  and  the  Hollanders.  He  died  the 
6th  of  April  1655,  aged  64.* 

BLONDEL  (Francis),  a  celebrated  French  mathema- 
tician and  piilitary  engineer,  was  born  at  Ribemond  in  Pi- 
cardy,  in  1617.  While  he  was  yet  but  young,  he  was 
chosen  regius  professor  of  mathematics  and  architecture 
at  Paris.     Not  long  after,  he  was  appointed  governor  to 

1  Gen.  9ict— Saxii  OMmaiticoB, 


B  L  O  N  D  E  L.  41S 

l«wis-Henry  de  Lomenix,  count  de  Bricnne,  whom  he 
accompanied  in  his  travels  from  1652  to  1655,  of  which 
he  published  an  account.     He  enjoyed  many  honourable 
employments,  both  in  the  navy  and  army  ;  and  was  en- 
trusted  with  the  management  of  several  negotiations  with 
#»reign  princes.     He  arrived  at  the  dignity  of  marshal  de 
camp,  and  counsellor  of  state,  and  had  the  honour  to  be 
appointed  mathematical  preceptor  to  the  Dauphin«     He 
was  a  member  of  the  royal  academy  of  sciences,  director 
of  the  academy  of  architecture,  and  lecturer  to  the  royal 
college ;  in  all  which  he  supported  his  dharacter  with  dig- 
tiity  and  applause.     Blonde!  was  no  less  versed  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  belles  lettres  than  in  the  mathematical 
sciences,  as  appears  by  the  comparison  he  published  be- 
tween Pindar  and  Horace,   1675,   12 mo,   and  afterwardt 
Teprinted  in   Rapines  miscellaneous  works.      He   died  at 
Paris,  the  22d  of  February,  1686,  in  the  sixty-ninth  year 
of  his  age.    His  chief  mathematical  works  were :  1.  *^  Cours 
d'Ardhitecture,"  Paris,  1675,  folio.     2.  "Resolution  de« 
quatre  principaux  problemes  d' Architecture,"  Paris,  1676, 
fol.     3.  "  Histoire  du  Calendrier  Romain,"  Paris,   1682, 
4to.      4.  "  Cours  de  Mathematiques,"  Paris,    1683,    4to« 
5.  "  L'Art  de  jetter  des  Bombes,"  La  Haye,  1685,  4to.    Be- 
sides a  "  New  method  of  fortifying  places,'*  and  other 
works.     Blondel  had  also  many  ingenious  pieces  inserted 
in  the  memoirs  of  the  French  academy  of  sciences,  par- 
ticularly in  the  year  1 666.  * 

BLONDEL  (James  Feancis),  nephew  of  the  preceding, 
and  a  man  of  abilities,  although  not  equal  to  his  uncle, 
was  born  Jan.  8,   1705,  and  consequently  could  not  have 
been  educated  by  his  uncle,  as  some  biographers  have  as-, 
feerted.     Removing  from  Rouen  to  Paris  in  his  thirty-fourth 
year,  he  opened  there  a  public  school  for  architecture, 
and  acquired  so  much  reputation  as  to  be  elected  into  the 
academy  in   1755.     Appointed  afterwards  professor,    he 
Carried  on  his  public  lectures  and  private  tuition  for  thirty 
years,  during  which  his  instructions  produced  a  new  sera 
in  architecture.     He  likewise  wrote  all  the  articles  on  this 
-subject  in  the  Encyclopaedia.     When  attacked  with  the 
disease  which  proved  fatal,  he  caused  himself  to  be  re* 
moved  to  his  school  in  the  Louvre,  that  he  might  breathe 
his  last  in  the  place  where  he  had  acqiiired  his  fame,  and 

i  Bios*  UniT.— Eloget,  toI.  L — Gen.  Diet.— Huttoo'i  MaUk  Diet. 


416     •  B  L  O  N  D  E  L, 

died  there,  January  9,  1774.  His  principal  building 
to  be  seen  at  Metz  and  Strasbnrgh«  His  printed  works  are, 
1.  <^  Architecture  Francaise,''  1772^  2  vok»  fol.  2.  *^  Cbuni' 
d'Architecture  civile,^'  9  vols.  8vo^  three  of  wiiich  consist 
of  plates  only ;  but  .this  work,  the  second  part  of  which  ap- 
peared in  1773,  is  unfortunately  imperfect,  owing  to  his 
death.  3*  '<  Architecture  moderne/'  1728,  '2  vols.  4to. 
4.  ^^  De  la  distribution  des  maisons  de  plaisance,*'  Paris, 
17 37,  .2  vols.  4to.  Blondel  was  a  good  engraver,  and  eKe-> 
cuted  many  of  the  plates  for  his  ^*  Course  of  Architecture/'  *^ 

BLONDEL  (Laurence),  who  was  bornat^Paris  in  1671^ 
and  died  at  Evreu'x,  July  25,  1740,  possessed  a  most  ex« 
tensive  knowledge  of  books  of  every  kind,  but  particularljr 
what  related  to  liturgies,  monastic  rules,  and  other  branches 
of  ecclesiastical  history,  which  he  communicated  liberally  to 
the  literati  of  his  time.     For  seventeen  years  he  was  cor*^ 
rector  of  Desprez^s  press,  and  published  there,  in  1772, 
**  Vie  de  Saints,'*  fol.  which  have  gone  through  several 
editions.     At  the  end  of  this  volume  are  subjoined  the  lives 
of  various  other  persons  eminent  for  their  piety.    His  own 
works  were  chiefly  of  the  religious  cast,  but  he  was  fre* 
quently  employed  as  editor  of  the  works  of  others,  which 
he  illustrated  with  notes. ' 

BLONDEL  (James  Augustus),  an  English  phjrsician, 
born  in  England,  of  a  French  family,  and  a  licentiate  of 
the  college  of  physicians,  about  the  beginning  of  the  last 
century,  published  in  1727,  ^^  The  strength  of  imagtna« 
tioD  in  pregnant  women  examined,  &c.'*  This  excited  a 
controversy  with  Dr.  Turner,  who,  in  his  work  on  thedis* 
eases  of  the  skin,  was  a  strong  advocate  for  the  power  of 
imagination  in  producing  marks  and  deformities.  Blondel 
answered  him ;  >nd  by  his  humour,  as  well  as  argument,  con« 
tributed  much  to  remove  the  common  prejudices  on  that 
popular  subject. ' 

BLONDUS.     SeeFLAVIO. 

BLOOD  (Thomas),  generally  known  by  the  appellatioti 
.of  colonel  Blood,  was  a  disbanded  officer  of  Oliver  Crom"* 
well's  army,  famous  for  his  daring  crimes  and  his  good  for« 
tune. .  He  was  first  distinguished  by  engaging  in  a  conspi* 
racy  to  surprise  the  castle  of  Dublin,  which  was  defeated 
by  the  vigilance  of  the  duke  of  Ormond ;  and  some  of  his 

>  Bior  Uiuven«ll«.  «  tbid. 

>  Ibid.— And  Rees*8  Cyclopedia;  where  a  fuUcr  aecounl  is  giTen  sf  tW 


BLOOD.  417 

ftecM^cti^Iiees  w^isees^eeifti:^.' ^  Escapingto'Eiigknidv heme-'' 
diu^ed  reVeJDge  against  Ormood  ;:  aodraotualiy  seiired  him' 
ane  eight  in  his  coach  in  St.  James-s^street,  wfa^re  be  might 
have,  finished  his  .purpose  i£  he  hud  not  studied  refinjements^ 
in.  J|j/s  v^QB^eanee.  He  bound  bim  on  horseback  .behind  one 
of  .his  associates,  resolving  to  hang^bim  at  Tyburn,  with  a 
papear  pinned  to  his  breast;  brut  when  they  got  into  the 
fields,  the  duke,  in  his 'efforts  for  liberty,  threw  himself 
and  t^e  assassin,  to  whom  be  was  fastened,  to  the  ground  ; 
and  while. they  were  struggling  in  the>ntire>hewaavescue<i 
by  bis  servants;  but. the  authors  of  this; attempt!  were  not 
then  discovered.  A  lijttle  after,  in  1671,'  Blood  formed  a 
d^gn  of  carrying  ofF  the  crown  aad  regalia  €r6m  the  tower  ; 
a  de$ign,  to  which  he  was  prompted^  as  well  by  the  sur<< 
prising  boldrtess  of  the  enterpVize,  as  by  the  views.off pro- 
fit. .He  was  very  near  socoeeding.  .He  bad  bound  and 
w9u&ded  Edwards,  die  keeper  of  tke  jewei^of{ice,i  and  had 
got  out  of  the  tower  with  his  pney ;  butwas^overtaken  and 
seui^^  with  some^  of  his  associates.  •  One  of  them  war 
kn0(vo  to  faavcf  bef  n  ooncetnied  ;ia <  the  attempt .  upon  >Or- . 
mond;  and  Blood  was^  immediately  concluded  to  be  th# 
ringleader.  -.When  qxiestioned/'  he  frankly  avowed  the  en** 
terprize;  but  refused  to  discover  his  accomplices.  ^^  The 
fearef'^^^th  (fae.said)  should  never  induce  him  either  to 
deny  a  guilt  or  betray  a  friend."  Ail  these  extraordinary 
ciro:UGii(taiiQes  made  1pm  the  general-  subject  of  comrersa*^ 
tioa^  and  the  king  was  moved  with  an  idle  curiosity  to  se^: 
and  speak  with  a  persion  so  noted  for  his  courage  and 
his^fimes.  <  Blood  might  now  esteem  himself  secure  of 
pa^dou^'  aadhe  wanted  not  address  to  improve  the-oppor*- 
tudity^  He  told  Gharies,  that  be  bad  b^n  engaged  witk 
others,  [na* design  to.kill him  mtha; cfitra|)ine above  Batter-^ 
sea^  where  his  majesty  often  went  to  bathe ;  that  the  cause* 
of  this  resolution  Was  the  severity  exercised  over  the  con- 
sciences of  the  godly,  in  restraining  the  liberty  of  their  t6-2 
]igioiik9^$s€7mblies:ftfastwhen<heimd  taken,  his  stiand  among^ 
the.  jBeedl,  foil  i>f  these  bkiody  resolutions,  he.fdundi'liia 
heari  che)cfc;ed  withan  awc^of  n^jestyr'ai^d-benpt  onty:re*^' 
lented  himself^  but  dirertisd  his  ^s^^ial^  irom  their  pur^' 
poae:  that  lie  had  long  ago  Inrought  bimaelfito  an  entiirein* 
difference  about  life,,  which-  he  notvs  gaire  for  Imt ;  yet'  h^ 
could  not  forbear  warning  the  king  of  the  danger  i  which., 
mig^ht  attend  his  execution  ;  that  his  associates  had  bound 
themselves,  by  the  strictest  oaths,  td  Avenge  the  death  of 
Vol,  V.  E  k 


«♦  18  L  O  O  D, 

.  any  of  iheir  conffederacy ;  and  that  noprecautioti  ttor  poWet 
eould  secure  anyone  from  the  effects  of  theit  desperate  re^^ 
solutions.  Whether  these  considerations  excited  fear  or 
admiration  in  the  king,  they  confirmed  his  resolution  of 
granting  a  pardon  to  Blood :  and  what  is  yet  more  extraor-^ 
dinary,  Cliarles  carried  his  kindneto  so  far  as  to  grant  liim 
an  estate  of  5002.  a-year.  He  also  showed  him  great  coun-* 
ienance ;  and  while  old  Edwards,  who  had  been  wounded^ 
in  defending  the  crown  and  regalia^  w)as  neglected,  thi^ 
tmn,  who  deserved  only  to  be  stared  at  and  detested  as  a 
monster^  became  a  kind  of  favourite. — Blood  enjoyed  his 
pension  about  ten  years,  till,  being  charged  with  fixing  ati 
imputation  of  a  scandalous  nature  on  the  duke  of  Buck« 
ihgham,  he  was  thrown  into  prison,  where  he  died  August 
24,  1680.' 

BLOOT  (Peter),  was  a  Flemish  painter,  whose  worki^ 
are  not  frequently  seen  in  these  kingdoms ;  nor  are  thej^ 
easily  purchased  in  Holland,  being  carefully  preserved  iii 
private  collections,  and  very  highly  esteemc^d.  The  sub* 
jects  he  chose  to  paint  were  always  taken  from  the  lowest 
life;  such  as  boora  drinking,  feasting,  dancing, . or  quar* 
rolling ;  shepherds  piping,  and  sometimes  the  marriages  of 
Tillagers.  He  was  a  faithful  and  indeed  too  servile  an  imi-» 
tator  of  nature ;  never  departing  from  the  actions,  attitudes, 
or  draperies  of  his  models.  He  showed  a  good  knowledge! 
of  the  chiaro-scuro,  and  perspective;  he  had  a  delicate 
manner  of  pencilling,  and  his  colouring  was  niellow ;  but 
he  had  no  idea  of  elegance :  yet  his  pictures  had  in  many 
respects  great  merit,  and  his  defects  seem  rather  imputable 
to  the  taste  of  his  country  than  to  his  own  genius ;  ^ome  of 
his  works  being,  for  the  lightness  of  the  touch,  the  neatness 
of  handling,  and  transparence  of  colour,  equal  to  the  best 
ef  his  time.     He  died  in  1667. ' 

.  BLOUNT  (Charles),  younger  son  of  sit-  Henry  Hount, 
and  brother  to  sir  Thomas  Pope  Blount  hereafter  mentioned, 
an  eminent  writer  in  the  last  century,  was  born  at  bis 
grandfather*s  seat  at  Upper  Hoiloway,  in  the  county  of 
Middleseit,  April  27,  16S4.  He  was  endowed  by  nature 
with  a  great  capacity,  and  with  a  strong  propensity  tor 
learning;  whichexcell^ntqualitie?  were  properly  cultivated 
by  the  assiduous  care  of  his  father,  and  under  ^o  able  an 
instrlictor,  ho  quickly  acquired  an  extfaotdinary  ^ill  in 


/  V     *-i,    '  "■ 


^.     ^  Bioji^c^Ut^    ^;    •  .  s  PilVingtoiu 


^BLOUNT.  41,^ 

the  arts  and  fK^ieoCes,  without  any  thing  of  tba(  pedaptry^. 
which  is  too  frequently  the  consequence  of  young .  men's  * 
application  to  study  in  the  common  course.     liis  pregnant 
parts  and   polite  behaviour  brought  him  early  into  the 
world,  so  that  his  father,  who  was  a  true  judge  of  men,' 
tiiought  fit,  when  he  was  about  eighteen,  to  marry  him  toi 
Eleanora,  daughter  of  sir  Timothy  Tyrrel,  of  Shotoveria 
the  county  of  Oxford,  and  gave  him  a  very  handsome  es*  . 
tate,  having  always  respected  him  as  a  friend,  as  well  as 
loved  him  with  the  affection  of  a  father*     The  year  aftec 
his  niarriage,  he  wrote  a  little  treatise,  w^iiph  he  published 
without  his  name,  in  defence  of  Dryden,  whose  "  Con« 
qufcstof  Granada"  was  attacked  by  Richard  Leigh,  a  player^ 
in  1678,  or  perhaps  in   1679,  he  published  his  ^^  Anima 
Mundi,"  in  which  it  is  said,' and  with  great  probability,, 
that  he  J^d  the  assistance  of  bis  father.     It  had  been  long 
before  handed  about  in  manuscript  ampng  the  acquaintance 
of  its  author,  with  several  passages  in  it  much  stronger  thaii 
ip  that  which  was  transmitted  to. the  press,  and  licensed  by^ 
sir  Roger  L' Estrange.     This,  however^  did  not  hinder  its^ 
giving  great  offence,  insomuch  that  complaint  was  made  (q 
Dr.  Comptoi),  then  Lord  Bishop  of  London,  who,  upon 
perusal,  signified  that  he  expected  it  should  be  suppressed,, 
and  intimating,  that  he  would  thereupon  rest  satisfied.  3ut 
afterwards,  when  the  Bishop  was  out  of  town,  an  oppor* 
tunity  was  taken  by  some  zealous  person  to  burn  the  book^ 
which  however  has  been  reprinted  since.     The  same  yeajc 
be  published  a  broad  sheet  under  the  title  of    ^<  Mn 
Hobbes's  last  Words  and  dying  Legacy."  It. was  extracte4 
from  the  ^^  Leviathan,"  and  was  intended  to  weaken  and 
expose  his  doctrine ;  yet  he  could  be^  np  very  warm  anta* 
gonist,  since  there  is  still  extant  a  letter  of  his  to  Mr» 
Hobbes,  wherein  he  professes  hiidaself  a  great  admirer  of  his 
parts,  and  one  who  would  readily  receive  his  instructions.  He 
afterwards  gave  a  strong  testimony  in  favour  of  liberty,  in 
a  pamphlet  on  the  Popish  Plot^  and  the  fear  of  a  Popish 
successor,  entitled,  ^^An  Appeal  from  the  country  to  the 
city  for  the  preservation  of  his  majesty's  person,  liberty^ 
property^  and  the  Protestant  >religion."     This  treatise  is 
subscribed  Junius  Brutus,  and  is  the  strongest  invective 
against  Popery  and  Papists  tHat  was  published  even  in  that 
age,  when  almost  all  the  wit  of  the  nation  was  pointed  that 
way.    There  are  in  it  likewise  such  express  recommenda«> 
dons  of  the  Duke  of  Monmouth,  as  might  well  hinder  the 

ES  2 


♦20  BLOUNT.      _ 

author  from  owning  it,  and  give  it,  in  the  eyes  of  the  lair^ 
yers  of  those  times,  an  air  of  sedition  at  least,  if  not  of 
treason.  In  1680,  he  printed  that  work  which  made 
him  most  known  to  the  world,  "  The  Life  of  Apollonian 
Tyaneus,"  which  was  soon  after  suppressed,  and  only  » 
few  copies  sent  abroad.  It  was  held  to  be  the  most  dan^ 
gerous  attempt,  that  had  beien  ever  made  against  revealed 
religion  in  this  country,  and  was  justly  thought  so,  .as 
bringing  to  the  eye  of  every  English  reader  a  multitude  of 
facts  and  reasonings,  plausible  in  themselves,  and  of  the 
fallacy  of  which,  none  but  men  of  parts  and  learning  can 
be  proper  judges.  For  this  reason  it  is  still  much  in  esteem 
with  the  Deists,  and  the  few  copies  that  came  abroad  con* 
tributed  to  raise  its  reputation,  by  placing  it  in  the  lists  of 
those  that  are  extremely  rare.  In  the  same  year  he  pub* 
lished  his  '^  Diana  of  the  Ephesians,"  which,  as  the  author 
foresaw,  raised  a  new  clamour,  many  suggesting  that,  un- 
der colour  'of  exposing  superstition^  he  struck  at  all  Revela*. 
tion,  and  while  he  avowed  only  a  contempt  of  the  Hea<- 
then,  seemed  to  intimate  no  great  affection  for  the  Chris-, 
tian  priesthood.  The  wit,  learning,  juid  zeal  of  our  au« 
thor,  had,'  by  this  time,  raised  him  to  be  the  chief  of  his 
sect ;  and  he  took  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  propagate  and 
defend  his  opinions  in  his  discourses  and  familiar  letters, 
as  well  as  by  his  books,  but  he  had  the  usual  inconsistency: 
of  the  infidel,  and  we  find  him  owning,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Sy- 
denham, that  in  point  of  practice,  Deism  was  less  satisfac- 
tory  than  the  Christian  scheme.  The  noise  bis  former 
pieces  had  made,  induced  him  to  conceal,  industriously, 
his  being  the  author  of  a  book,  entitled,  "  Religio  Laici," 
published  in  1683,  but  which  is  little  more  than  a  transla- 
tion of  Lord  Herbert's  treatise  under  the  same  title ;  and 
ope  may  reasonably  suppose,  that  the  same  motives  pre- 
vailed on  him  to  drop  a  design,  in  which  it  appears  he  was 
once  engaged,  of  writing  the  Life  of  Mahomet,  the  Turkish 
prophet,  which  however  has  been  since  executed,  in  his 
manner,  by  a  French  author,  Boulanvilliers.  That  the  world 
might  perceivQ:  Mr.  Blount  was  capable  of  turning  his 
thoughts  to  subjects  very  different  from  those  he  had  hi- 
therto handled,  he,  in  1684,  published  a  kind  of  introduc- 
tion to  polite  literature,  which  shewed  the  extent  of  his 
knowledge,  and  the  acquaintance  he  had  in  the  several 
branches  of  philosophy  and  science.  This  was  entitled 
*Oanus  Scientiarum:  or  an  Introduction  to  Geography^ 


BLOUNT.  421 

,  Chronology,  Government,  History,  Philosophy,  and  all 
genteel  sorts  of  Learning,"  London,  8vo.  He  concurred 
liearjtily  in  the  Revolution,  and  seems  to  have  had  very  ho- 
.Best  intentions  of  punishing  those  virho  were  kiog  Jameses 
^vil  counsellors,  after  the  government  was  re-settled,  by 
declaring  the  prince  and  princess  of  Orange  king  and 
4}ueen.  He  gave  another  strong  testimony  of  his  sincere 
attachment  to  his  priixcipl^s,  and  inviolable  love  to  free- 
doo),  by  a  nervous  defence  of  the  liberty  of  the  press ; 
.wherein  he  «hews  that  all  restraints  on  it  can  have  no  other 
tendency  than  to  establish  superstition  and  tyranny,  by 
«i6asing  the  spirits  of  mankind,  and  injuring  the  human  un* 
<lerstanding.  This  little  piece,  therefore,  has  been  always, 
esteemed  one  of  the  best  be  ever  wrote;  and  has  furnished 
.their  strongest  arguments  to  many  succeeding  writers.  The 
:wai'mth  of  Mr.  Blount^s  temper,  his  great  ^.ffection  for  king 
William,  and  his  earnest  desire  to  see  certain  favourite  pro* 
Jects  brought  about,  led  him  to  write  a  pamphlet,  in  which 
he  asserted  king  William  and  queen  Mary  to  be  con- 
querors, which  was  not  well  relished  by  the  bouse  of  com- 
mons. The  title  of  this  very  singular  and  remarkable 
piece  at  large,  runs  thus :  ^^  King  William  and  queen 
Mary  conquerors ;  or,  a  discourse  endeavouring  to  prove 
tha^  their  majesties  have  on  their  side,  against  the  late 
king,  the  principal  reasons  that  make  conquest  a  good 
title  ;  shewing  also  how  this  is  consistent  with  that  decla« 
ration  of  parliament,  king  James  abdicated  the  govern* 
9aeiH9  &c.  Written  with  an  especial  regard  to  such  as 
have  hitherto  refused  the  oath,  and  yet  allow  of  the  title 
of  conquest,  when  consequent  to  a  just  war,''  1693,  4to. 

We  now  draw  near  to  his  death,  which  corresponded 
more  closely  with  his  principles  than  his  friends  and  ad« 
mirers  will  probably  allow. .  After  the  death  of  his  wife, 
he  .became  enamoured  of  her  sister,  who,  we  are  told,  was 
a  lady  of.  great  beauty,  wit,  good  humour,  virtue,  and  dis*^ 
cretipn,  and  who  is  said  not  to  have  been  insensible  on  her 
side,  but  scrupulous  only  as  to  the  lawfulness  of  the  thing  he 
proposed,  viz.  marrying  her  after  her  sister.  Our  author 
wrote  a  letter  on  this  subject,  in  which  he  states  the  case 
83  of  a  third  person,  and  treats  it  with  some  ingenuity.  It 
is  also  said  that  he  applied  himself  to  the  archbishop  of 
Capterburyf  and  other  divines,  who  having  decided  against 
his  opinion,  and  the  lady  consequently  becoming  inflexible, 
it  threw  him  into  a  fit  of  despair,  which  ended  in  a  frenzy, 


4211  BLOUNT. 

60  that  he  shot  himself  in  the  head.  The  wound,  however^ 
did  not  prove  immediately  mortal ;  he  lived  after  it  some 
days  ;  and  retaining  still  his  passion  for  that  lady,  he  would 
receive  n<>thing  but  from  her  hands  during  that  period. 
He  died  in  the  month  of  August,  1693,  and  was  interred 
with  his  family  in  the  church  of  Ridge,  in  Hertfordshire. 
After  Mr.  Blount's  decease,  abundance  of  his  private  let- 
ters were  published  in  a  work  called  "  The  Oracles  of 
Reason,*'  compiled  by  Mr.  Gildon,  who  in  his  preface  gives 
some  account  of  our  author,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  a  lady, 
in  which  be  defends  Mr.  Blount's  manner  of  dying,  and 
threatens  to  follow  his  example ;  but  he  lived  to  change 
his  opinions  afterwards.  These  **  Oracles  of  Reason"  were 
afterwards  printed  with  several  of  our  author's  pieces, 
under  the  title  of  ^^  The  miscellaneous  works  of  Charles 
Blount,  esq."  1695,,  including  all  we  have  mentioned, 
except  the  pamphlet  respecting  king  William  and  queen 
Mary,  which  is  now  extremely  scarce.  As  to  his  charac* 
ter,  he 'was  certainly  a  man  of  sense  and  learning,  and 
could  write  with  much  seeming  strength,  where  his  argu* 
ments  were  not  very  cogent.  His  early  dislike  to  super- 
stition hurried  him  into  dangerous  mistakes,  and  inclined 
him  to  believe  all  revealed  religion  priestcraft,  because 
some  priests  made  a  trade  of  religion.  However,  if  any 
ie^redit  be  due  to  his  writings  (and  sincerity  seems  to  have 
been  rooted  in  his  temper)  he  was  certainly  a  Deist ;  fo- 
reigners  have  classed  him  among  Atheists,  which  Dr. 
Campbell,  in  his  life  in  the  Biog.  Brit,  has  taken  more 
pains  than  necessary  to  contradict. '' 

BLOUNT  (Sir  Henry),  father  to  the  preceding,  and 
a  considerable  writer  in  the  last  century,  was  descended 
from  a  very  ancient  and  honourable  family,  and  born  De- 
cember 1 5,  1602,  at  his  father,  sir  Thomas  Pope  Blount's, 
seat  at  Tittenhanger,  in  Hertfordshire.  He  received  the 
first  tincture  of  letters  in  the  free-school  of  St.  Alban's, 
where  he  manifested  an  unusual  quickness  of  parts,  and 
having  qualified  himself  for  the  university,  was  removed 
to  Trinity-college,  in  Oxford,  and  entered  a  gentleman 
commoner  there  in  1616,  before  he  was  full  fourteen  years 
of  age.  $ome  years  he  spent  in  that  learned  society,  with 
great  reputation  and  universal  respect,  not  so  much  on 
account  of  his  family,  by  which  he  was  nearly  related  t% 

X  3iog.  'Bffit.^^LeUnd^B  Mstical  Writers. . 


BLOUNT.  42* 

t})e  foundejf,  sir  Thomas  Pope,  as  from  his  personal  meitt* 
J^or  in  bis  youth  he  was  of  a  cheerful  disposition,  a  sprightly 
wit,  an  easy  address,  and  frank  and  entertaining  in  con^ 
versation,  charmed  all  who  were  of  his  acquaintance,  and 
was  justly  esteemed  as  promising  a  genius  as  any  in  the' 
university.     In  the  year  1618  he  took  the  degree  of  B.A. 
and  soon  after  left  Oxford  for  Gray^s-inn,  where  for  some 
time  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the  law,  and  set 
out  on  his  travels  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1634,  being 
then  lately  become  of  age.  He  made  first  the  tour  of  France, 
part  of  Spain  and  Italy,  and  then  passing  to  Venice,  he 
there  contracted  an  acquaintance  with  a  Janizary,  with 
whom  be  resolved  to  pass  iiito  the  Turkish  dominions. 
With  this  view  he  embarked  on  the  7th  of  May,  1634,  on 
board  a  Venetian  galley,  in  which  he  sailed  to  Spalatro, 
and  tl^ence  continued  his  journey  by  land  to  Constanti-* 
nople.     There  he  was  very  kindly  received  by  sir  Peter 
Wich,  then  our  ambassador  at  the  Port.     His  stay  at  Con- 
stantinople was  short,  because,  having  an  earnest  desire 
to  see  Grand  Cairo,  and  meeting  with  a  sudden  opportu-* 
nity,  he  readily  embraced  it,  and  after  a  peregrination  of 
near  two  years,  returned  safely  into  England,  where,  in 
1636,  he  printed  an  account  of  his  travels,  London^  1636, 
4to,  which  soon  after  came  to  a  second  edition,  and  in 
163^  to  a  third,  in  the  same  size.     It  was  then  printed  in 
12mo,  and  reached  many  editions  ;  the  title  of  the  eighth 
runs  thus :  ^'  A  Voyage  into  the  Levant,  being  a  brief  rela^ 
tion  of  a  Journey  lately  performed  from  England  by  the 
way  of  Venice,  into  Dalmatia,  Sclavonia,  Bosnia,  Hun- 
gary, Macedonia,  Thessaly,  Thrace,  Rhodes,  and  Egypt, 
unto  Grand  Cairo ;  with  particular  observations  concerning 
the  modern  condition  of  the  Turks,  and  other  people  under 
that  empire.     By  sir  Henry  Blount,  knight.'*     This  book 
made  him  known  to  the  world,  and  so  much  noticed,  that 
shortly  after,  king  Charles  I.  who  desired  to  fill  his  court 
with  men  of  parts,  appointed  him  one  of  the  band  of  pen- 
sioners, then  composed  of  gentlemen  of  the  first  families 
in  the  kingdom.     In  1638,  his  father,  sir  Thomas  Pope 
Blount,  died,  and  left  him  the  ancient  seat  of  Blount's 
hall,  in  Staffordshire,   and  a  very  considerable   fortune. 
On  the  21st  of  March  in  the  succeeding  year,  the  king 
conferred  on  him  the  honour  of  knighthood.     At  the  first 
breaking  out  of  the  civil  war,  he,  following  the  example 
of  the  elder  branches  of  hisi  illustrious  family,  wl^o  were 


424  BLOUNT. 

eminently  lo^al,  attended  the  king  at  York,  at  Oxfoid, 
and  othj^r  places,  was  present  at  the  battle  of  EdgehiH, 
and  had  there  (according  to  a  tradition  in  the  family)  the 
honour  of  taking  care  of  the  young  princes.  Afl^wards 
he.quitted  his  majesty^s  service,  and  returned  to  London, 
where  he  was  questioned  for  bis  adhering  to  the  king; 
but  he  being  now  grown  a  very  wary  and  dexterous 
speaker^  so  well  excused  himseify  by  alleging  his  duty  on 
i|Ccount  of  his  post,  that  he  escaped  all  censure,  and  was 
thenceforward  well  received.  It  appears,  however,  that 
ke  had .  not  the  couragp  to  be  faitbfai, .  or  that  he  had  se- 
riously repented  his  loyalty  to  the  king,  for  he  complied 
with  the  usurping  government  so  implicitly,  that  in  1651 
he  was  named  on  a  committee  of  twenty  persons,  for  in- 
specting the  practice  of 'the  law,  and  remedying  its  abuses. 
He  declared'  himself  very  warmly  against  tithes,  and 
would  willingly  have  reduced  the  income  of  parish  minis- 
ters to  one  hundred  pounds'  a  year.  A  man  of  this  opinion 
mjjst  have  been  very  acceptable  at  that  time.     His  nextap- 

Searaoce,  however,  was  ta^e  to  bis  credit.  He  sat  with  Ih^. 
Lichard  Zouch,  Dr.  William  CiUurke,  Dr.  William  Turner,  ci^ 
rilians,  and  with  several  other  emineii<t  persons  in  the  court 
of  king's  (then  called  the  upper)  bench,  in  Weslaninster 
hall,  on  the  5th  of  July,  1654,  by  virtue  of  a  commissioQ 
from  Oliver  Cjromwell,  .  for  trying  Don  Pantalion  Saa, 
brother  to  the  Portuguese  ambassador,  for  murder,  of 
which,  being  found  guilty,  be  was,  much  to  the  honour 
of  the  justice  of  this  nation,  by  sentence  of  that  court,  adr 
judged/to  suffer  death,  and  was  executed  accordinglj^ 
In  tne  same  year,  by  the  death  of  his  elder  brother  Tho« 
mas  Pope  Blount,  esq.  the  estate  of  Tittenbanger  de- 
scended to  him.  His  great  reputation  for  general  know- 
ledge and  uncommon,  sagacity  was  the  reason  that  his 
name  was  inserted  in  the  list  of  twenty-one  commissioners 
appointed,.  November  1, 1655,  to  consider  of  the  trade  and 
navigation  of  the  commonwealth,  and^iow  it  might  be  best 
encouraged  and.  promoted,  in  which  station  be  did  his 
country  eminent  service.  Byxt  whatever  his  compliances 
with  the  forms  of  government  set  up  between  165(>  and 
1660,  he  was  received  into  favour  and  confidence  on  the 
king's  restoration,  and  appointed  iiigh  sheriff  of  the  county 
of  Hertford,  in  1661.  He  lived  after  that  as  an  English 
gentleman,  satisfied  with  the  honours  he  had  acquired,  and 
the  large  estate  he  possessed,  and  having  passed  upWards 


BLOUNT.  ''4iS 

bf  iMrenty  years  in  this  independent  state^  he  di^d '  on  fhe 
9th  of  October,  1682,  when  he  wanted  but  foar  months  of 
foufr score,  and  was  two  days  afterwards  interred  in  the 
Tank  of  his  family,'  at  Ridge  in  Hertfordshire.  As  to  what 
appears  from  his  writings,  he  seems  to  have  had.  strong 
I^rts,  a  lively  imagination,  and,  in, consequence  of  these, 
sojne  vcfry  singular  opinions.  His  style  was  manly,  flowing, 
and  le^  affected  than  could  be  expected,  considerhig  the 
times  in,  and  the  subjects  on,  which  he  wrote.  A  Latin 
fragment^  published  by  his  son,  in  bis  '^  Oracles  of  Rea- 
son^" better  explains  bis  sentiments  than  all  the  rest  of  bia 
^icorks,  and  demonstrates  that  he  was  a  man  of  an  irregular 
way  of  .thinking. 

'  Mfi  W«rtoB,  in  the  life  of  his  great  ancestor,  says  very 
jQslly,  that  his  "  Voyage  into  the  Levant"  is  the  voyage 
of  a  sceptic ;  it  has  more  of  the  philosopher  than  the  tra- 
veller, and  W9uld,  probably,  netex  have  been  written,  but 
for  the  purpose  of  insinuating  bis  « religious  sentiments* 
Yet  his  reflections  are  so  striking  and  original,  and  so  art-* 
fully  interwoven  with  the  thread  of  his  adventures,  that 
they  eidiven,  instead  of  embarraeising  the  narrative.  He 
bad  the  art  of  colouring  his  paradoxes  with  the  resemblance 
of  triUib,  and  so  little  penetration  had  the  orttiodox  court 
of  Charles  I.  that  merely  on  the  merit  of  tbis  book,  he 
was  appointed  one  of  the  band  of  pensioners.     For  the 

#  first  forty  years  of  his  life  he  was  a  boon  companion,  and 
much  given  to  raillery ;  but  in  the  other  forty,  of  a  serious 
temper,  and  a  water  drinker.  He  married  in  1647,  dame 
Hester  Manwaring,  relict  of  sir  William  Manwaring,  of 
Cheshire,  knight,  daughter  and  coheiress  of  Christopher 
Wase,  of  Upper  HoUoway,  in  the  county  of  Middlesex^ 
esq.  by  whom  he  left  three  sons  and  one  daughter. 

The  rest  of  the  works  he  publii^ied  were,  1.  **  Six  Come* 
dies,  written  by  John  Lilly,  under  the  title  of  Court  Co- 
tnedies,"  by  the  care  of  Mr.  Henry  Blount,  London,  1632; 
*vo.  2.  A  satire^  totitled  ^  The  Exchange  Walk,''  in 
16474     This,  Mr.  Wood  says,  some  of  his  relations  in- 

'  formed  him,  fell  from  the  pen  of  sir  Henry  Blount,  though 
bis  sons  knew  nothing  of  it.  3.  <^  An  epistle  in  praise  of 
Tobaccoand  Coffee/'  prefixed  to  a  little  treatise,  entitled 
**  Organum  Salutis,"  written  by.  Walter  Rumsey,  esq. 
1657,  8vo.* 

K  Biog.  Srit.— Wartou's  Life  of  Pope,  p.  206.— Wood's  Ath.  to].  II. 


43^  BiL  OtJ  N^T?: 

BLOUNT  (JoHM)»  called  in  Latin  Blondus,  cm-  dlntiduiv^ 
a  very  eminent  divine  in  the  thirbeenth  century,  was  edu-' 
cated  in  the  university  of  Oxford,  and  went  afterwards  for 
bis  improvement  to  Paris,  whs^e  he  quickly  distinguished 
himself,  among  many  of  his  learned  contemporaries,  by 
t;be  vivacity  of  his  wit.  On  his  return  into  England,  be 
again  settled  himself  at  Oxford,  and  read  divinity  lectures; 
there  with  universal  applause.  Wood  says  he  vms  the  first 
that  lectured  on  Aristotle  both  in  Paris  and  Oxford.  The 
reputation  of  his  learning  obtained  him  also  several  other 
preferments,  particularly  those  of  prebendary  and  chancellor 
in  the  church  of  York.  In  12S2,  the  archiepiscopal  see  of 
Canterbury  being  vacant  by  the  death  of  Richard  Wether-* 
shed,  and  the  rejection  of  two  pf  his  successors,  Ralph 
Nevil,  bishop  of  Chichester  and  chancellor  of  Enjgland,  andr 
John,  sub*prior  of  Canterbury,  by  the  pope,  Dr.  Blount 
was,. by  the  chapter  of  Canterbury,  elected  archbishop* 
He  did  not>  however,  enjoy  that  dignity;  for  the  pope 
immediately '  objected  to  him,  and  afier  a  summary  in» 
quicy  jalo  the  validity  of  his  election,  declared  it  void,  fo^ 
several  reasons,  of  which  our  historians  take  notice,  though 
Tery  probably  Bale  has  hit  upon  the  true,  although  not  the 
ostensible  cause,  namely,  tlmt  his  abilities  rendered  him 
obnoxious  to  the  court  of  Rome,  or,  as  Bale  expresses  it^ 
that  he  was  more  learned  than  that  court  wished  an  arch- 
bishop to  be. 

^  Many  of  our  modern  writers,  and  particularly  bishop 
Godwin,  fall  into  frequent  inaccuracies  concerning  thin 
prelate,  sometinies  mistaking  his  simame,  and  sometimes 
confounding  him  with  Richard  Blount,  bishop  of  Lincoln; 
^fter  his  return  from  Rome,  and  being  deprived  of  his 
high  dignity,  he  retired  once  again  to  Oxford,  and,  aa 
Leiand  tells  us,  consoled  himself  under  his  misfortunes^ 
by  an  ardent  application  to  bis  studies.  In  this  maimer 
he  spent  sixteen  years,  during  which  time  he  composed 
several  learned  works,  and  amongst  them  various  commen* 
taries  on  the  Holy  Scriptures.  He  was  celebrated  by  his 
contemporaries  for  the  elegance  of  his  style,  and  for  the 
extensiveness  of  his  learning.  John  Ross,  of  Warwick^ 
so  contemptible  historian,  and  who  did  not  live  above  a 
century  after  his  time,  speaks  of  him  as  a  prodigy  of 
science.  This  very  learned,  though  unfortunate  person, 
having  attained  to  a  good  old  age,  and  to  a  high  reputation 
for  his  knowledge,  prudence,  5tnd  piety,  died  m  1248^ 


»  L  O  U  N  1*.  if^T 

liaTiiig  'always  ahewn  an  equanimity  of  mind,  which  de^ 
monfttrated  him  woi'thy  of  the  highest  station,  by  enabling 
him  to  bear  with  fortitude  his  fall  from  thence. 
:  Leland>  in  his  life  of  this  learned  person,  ownsinge« 
nuously,  that  he  was  so  unlucky  as  never  to  have  met  with 
any  of' those  writings  which  rendered  our  author^s  memory 
famous,  adding  a  doubt  whether  any  of  them  were  extant. 
Bale,  in  the  first  edition  of  his  work,  omitted  this  life; 
and  when  he  added  it  afterwards,  he  only  copied  Leland, 
adding  that  Blount  had  written  ^^  Summarium  Sacrae  Fa« 
cultatis,"  lib.  1.  *^  Disceptationes  aliquot,^'  lib.  1.  and  se» 
▼eral  Commentaries  on  the  Scriptures.  Pits  transcribes 
Bale^  adcKng  the  censure  mentioned  above ;  yet  takes  no 
notice  of  any  other  work^  than  t^ose  which  Bale  had  before 
fioted,  and,  which  is  very  reinarkable,  does  not  give  us 
the  beginaing  of  any  of  them,  as  his  custom  always  is, 
wherever  he  had  seen  such  books,  or  could  meet  with  any 
accounts  from  other  people  who  had  seen  them.  It  is 
therefore  moire  than  probable,  that  he  spoke  slightingly  of 
his  talents,  in  order  to  support  the  credit  of  the  see  of 
Borne,  by  lessening  the  reputation  of  a  person  whom  it 
bad  so  vehemently  persecute.  ^ 

BLOUNT  (Sir  Thomas  Pope),  an  eminent  writer  to* 
wards  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  was  the  eldest 
son  of  sir  Henry  Blount  before  mentioned,  and  was  born 
at  Upper  Holloway  in  the  county  of  Middlesex,  Sept.  1 2, 
1649.  He  was  carefully  educated  under  the  eye  of  his 
iaJthev,  who  took  care  to  acquaint  him  with  the  several 
branches  of  polite  literature  most  worthy  the  notice  of  a 
person  of  bis  rank ;  and  so  great  was  the  improvement  he 
made  under  so  able  an  instructor,  that,  even  in  his  junior 
years,  he  was  considered  both  as  a  judicious  and  learned 
man,  and  on  this  account,  as  well  as  for  other  marks  of 
worth  and  genius,  he  was,  by  king  Charles  II.  advanced 
to  the  degree  of  a  baronet,  by  apatent  dated  Jan.  27, 1679^ 
in  the  thirtieth  year  of  his  majesty's  reign,  and  in  the  lif6« 
time  of  sir  Henry  Blount  his  father.  He  was  elected  bur^ 
gess  fbr  St.  Alban^s  in  Hertfordshire,  in  the  parliaments  in 
the  thirtieth  and  thirty-first  of  king  Charles  II.  and  was 
knight  of  the  shire  in  three  parliaments  after  the  Revolu^ 
tion,  having  also  the  honour  to  be  elected  commissioner  of 

•  r 

'  Biog.  Brit,  from  LeUnd.— Bale.— Pitf.-— Wood's  Annalf,  by  Gutch,  tqU 
I.  and  III. 


4^  B  L  O  U  N  T. 

accounts  for  the  three  last  years  of  his  life  by  the  house  <if 
tommoQS.  He  always  distinguished  himself  as  a  lover  of 
liberty,  a  sincere  friend  to  his  country,  and  a  true  patron 
of  learning.  His  strong  attachment  for  Uteratiire  and  cri- 
ticism, and  his  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  best  wri- 
ters in  all  ages  and  sciences,  appeared  fully  iu  the  *f  Cen- 
sura,"  which  he  composed,  first  for  his  own  use  and  sa- 
tisfaction, and  then  published  in  the  universal  language 
for  the  benefit  of  others.  His  talents  for  original  remark 
appear  from  his  essays,  which,  in  point  of  learning,  judg-> 
ment,  and  freedom  of  thought,  are  certainly  no  way  in- 
ferior to  those  of  the  famous  Montaignel  His  knbwledge 
and  modesty  are  equally  conspicuous  in  another  piece 
of  his,  wherein  he  presents  th^  public  with  the  fruits  of 
bis  reading  on  natural  history,  without  depriving  those 
from  whom  he  drew  his  knowledge,  of  any  part  of  their 
Teputation.  What  he  has  written  on  poetry  was  likewise 
drawn  .  together  for  his  own  information,  and  afterwards 
sent  abroad  for  public  use.  Having  thus  satisfied  in  his 
Viper  years^  the  great  expectations  which  his  friends  had 
of  him  in  hisr  youth,  having  been  steady  to:  one  party, 
without  violence  towards  otbers,  after  acquiring  honour  in 
his  several  public, character^,  esteem  in  private  conversa- 
tion, and  affection  in  domestic  life,  he  quietly  ended  his 
days  at  his  seat  at  Tittenhanger,  June  30,  1697,  in  the 
forty-eighth  year  of  his  age,  and  was  bpried  the  eighth  of 
July  following,  in  the  vault  of  his  family,  at  Ridge  in 
Hertfordshire.  He  married  Jane,  daughter  of  sir  Henry 
Caesar,  of  Benington  Place  in  the  county  of  Hertford, 
knight,  and  by  her  left  issue  five  sons  and  nine  daughters^ 
but  the  baronetage  is  now  extinct. 

His  "  Censura  Celebrium  Authorum'*  was  first  printed 
at  London,  1690,  fol.  and  was  reprinted  at  Geneva,  1694, 
4to,  and  1710,  4to.  This  compilation,  a  work  of  great 
erudition  and  labour,  is  well  known  to  the  critia  and  the 
literary  historian,  but  cannot  be  compared,  as  Nicerba 
has  attempted,  with  Baillet's  "  Jugement  des  Savans," 
Baillet  reporting  the  opinions  of  others  in  his  own  words, 
but  Blouiit  transcribes  them  literally,  which  adds  consi- 
derably to  their  value.  His  "  Essays,'*  which  were  pub* 
lished  1697,  8vo,  are  on  the  following  subjects:  popery, 
learning,  education  and  custom,  the  ancients,  passion,  &c. 
His  "  Natural  History,  containing  many,  not  common  ob-. 
servations,  extracted  out  of  the  best  modern  authors,''  was 


BLOUNT.  42,9 

published  1693^  12mo  ;  and  bis  ^^  Remarks  On  .Poetry »** 
,1694,  '4to.  This  is  a  species  of  Censura  confined  to  the 
poetical  class,,  and  was  honoured  with  the  approbation  of 
lord  Mulgrare,  the  most  elegant  critic  of  that  age.  Upon 
the  whole,  sir  Thomas  Pope  Blount,  as  he  was  the  most 
learned,  appears  to  have  been  the  most  useful  of  the  faimly, 
and  most  deserving  the  veneration  of  posterity.  ^ 

BLOUNT  (Thomas),  a  miscellaneous  writer,  of  the  se- 
venteenth century,  was  born  1618,  at  Bardsley  in  Wor-  * 
cestershire,  the  son  of  Myles  Blount,  of  Orleton  in  Here* 
fordshire,  who  was  the  fifth  son  of  Roger  Blount  of  Monk* 
land  in  the  same  county*  He  appears  to  have  supplied 
the  want  of  an  university  education  by  diligent  application^ 
, and.. after  studying  the  classics,  entered  himself  of  the 
Inner  Temple,  and  waf  in  due  course  admitted  to  the  bar. 
.  Being,  however,  a  Roman  catholic^i  he  never  pleaded^  but 
.after. some  time  resided  mostly  at  Orleton.  A  sedentary 
life  having  much  impaired  his  health,  and  the  popish  plot 
breaking  out  in  .1678,  he  was  so  hurried  from  place  to 
place,  that  the  fatigue  brought  on  a. palsy,  of  which  he  died 
at  Orleton,  Dec.  26,  1679.  Whether  by  this  mention  of 
the  popish  plot,  his  biographer  means  that  he  was  con- 
cerned in  it,  does  not, appear.  Wood  seems  to  insinuate 
^  that  he  was  only  alarmed,  as  he,  was  known  to  be  a  zealous 
JRoman  catholic.  He  was,  however,  a  man  of.  general 
knowledge,  and  an  industrious  and  useful  writer.  His 
works  are,  1.  "  The  Acade^iy  qf  Eloquence,  or  complete 
English  rhetoric,''  .  1654,  12mo,  ,  often  reprinted*  2. 
*^  Glossographia,  or  a  Dictionary  of  hard  words,"  Load. 
1656,  8vo.  Of  this  there  have  been  at  least  five  editions. 
3.  ^^  The  Lamps  of  the  Law,  and  the  Lights  of  the  Gos- 
pel," ibid.  1658,  8vo.  .  4.  "Boscobel,;  or  the  history  of 
his  majesty's  escape  after  the  battle  of  Worcester,"  ibid. 
1660.  5.  Boscobel,  the  second  part,  with  the  addition 
of  the  "  Claustrum  regale  reseratum,"  or  the  king^s  con- 
cealment at  Trent  in  Somersetshire,  published  by  Mrs. 
Anpe  Windham  of  Trent,"  ibid.  1681.  Both  these  now 
lire  among  Xhe  scarce .  and  high-priced  c^iriosities  of  the 
jBeventeenth  century.  Extracts  are  given  from  them  iu 
the  Addenda  to  lord  Clarendon's  History.  6.  ^^  The  Catho-^ 
lie  Almanac  for  1661-2-3,  &c."  7.  "  Booker  a-ebuked; 
or  animadversions  on   Booker's  Almanac."     8.  '<  A  Law 

»  Bi^g.  Brit.-.Warton'i  Pope,  207v— Wood»i  Ath.  vol.  11. 


4J0  BLOUNT. 

Dictionarj/'  ibid.  1671,  foL  reprinted  with  addittoiis.  ^« 
*^  Animadversions  on  sir  Richard  Baker's  Chronicle,". Oxf. 
1672,  8vo.  10.  **  A  World  of  Errors^  discovered  in  Mr. 
Edmnnd  Pbilips's  World  of  Words,"  London,  167S,  foL 
li.  <^  Fragnienta  Antiquitatis.  Ancient  teinires  of  land, 
and  jocular  customs  of  some  manors,^'  ibid.  1679,  8vo;  of 
which  Josiah  Beckwith  of  York  published  a  new  edition  in 
1784,.  12.  ^*  Animadversions  on  Blome's  Britannia,'*  not 
published.  13.  ^^  The  art  of  making  Devises,  treat- 
ing of  Hieroglyphics,  Symbols,  &c.*'  a  translation  from  the 
French,  1646,  4to.  14.  ^^  A  catalogue  of  the  Catholics^ 
who  lost  their  lives  in  the  king's  cause,  during  the  eivit 
war,''  printed  at  the  end  of  lord  Castlemain's  ^^  Catholic 
Apology.'*  15.  "A  Chronicle  of  England,"  left  imper- 
fect, and  a  history  of  Herefordshire,  a  MS.  left  with  his 
heirs,  but  which  was  probably  lost,  or  has  escaped  the  re« 
searches  of  Mr.  Gough.  16.  **  A  pedigree  of  the  Blounts,'? 
printed  in  Peacham's  ^^  Complete  Gentleman,"  edit.  1661.^ 
BLOW  (John),  an  English  musician  of  considerable 
fame,  was  born  in  1648,  at  North  Collingham  in  Notting* 
hamshire,  and  became  one  of  the  first  set  of  children  of  the 
chapel  r6yal  after  the  restoration.  In  1673,  he  was  sworn 
one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  chapel,  and  in  1674,  appoint^ 
ed  master  of  the  children.  In  1685,  he  was  nominated 
one  of  the  private  music  to  king  James  II. ;  and  in  1687, 
was  likewise  appointed  almoner  and  master  of  the  choris*^' 
ters  in  the  cathedral  church  of  St.  Paul :  but,  in  1693^  he 
resigned  this  last  place  in  favour  of  his  scholar  Jeremiah 
Clerk.  Blow  had  his  degree  of  doctor  in  music  conferred 
on  him  by  the  special  grace  of  archbishop  Sancroft,  with- 
out performing  an  exercise  for  it  at  either  of  the  universi- 
ties. On  the  death  of  Purcell^  in  1 695,  he  was  elected  or- 
ganist of  St.  Margaret^s,  Westminster ;  and  in  1699,  ap- 
pointed composer  to  the  chapel  of  their  majesties  king 
William  and  queen  Mary,  at  the  salary  of  40/.  a  year^ 
which  afterwards  was  augmented  to  73/.  A  second  com^ 
poser,  with  the  like  appointment,  was  added  in  1715,  at 
which  time  it  was  required  that  each  should  produce  a  new 
anthem  on  the  first  Sunday  of  his  month  in  waiting.  Dr. 
Blow  died  in  1708  ;  and  though  he  did  not  arrive  at  great 

longevity,  yet  by  beginning  his  course,  dnd  mounting  to 

•     *  .  '  ■  "  .  .  — 

*  Dodd's  Church  History,  Tol.  III.-*Ath.  Ox.  vol.  II.  art  Baker. 
Ijt.  TO).  11,  and  111^ 


B  L  O.W.  «t 

^  supuiHt  of  his  profession  so  early,  he  enjoyed  a  pros^ 
parous  and  eventful  life.  His  compositions  for  the  churchy 
and  Ms  scholars  who  arrived  at  eminence,  have  rendered 
I)i$  name  venerable  among  the  musicians  of  oar  country; 
la  his  person  he  was  handsome,  and  remarkable  for  a  gra* 
Tity  and  decency  in  his  deportment  suited  to  his  station^ 
though  he  seems  by  some  of  his  compositions  to  have  been 
not  altogether  insensible  to  the  delights  of  a  convivial  hour. 
He  was  a  man  of  blameless  morals,  and  of  a  benevolent 
temper  ;  but  was  not  so  insensible  to  his  own  worth,  as  to 
he  totally  free  frpm  the  imputation  of  pride.  Sir  John 
Hawkins  furnishes  us  with  an  anecdote  that  shews  likewise 
that  he  had  a  i*ough  method  of  silencing  criticism.  In  the 
reign  of  James  II.  an  anthem  of  some  Italian  composer  had 
been  introduced  into  the  chapel  royal,  which  the  king 
liked  very  much,  and  asked  Blow  if  he  could  make  one  a^ 
good  i  Blow  answered  in  the  affirmative,  and  engaged  to 
do  it  by  the  next  Sunday  ;  when  he  produced  ^^  I  beheld 
and  lo  a  great  multitude.''  When  the  service  was  over^ 
the  king  sent  father  Petre  to  acquaint  him  that  he  wa» 
much  pleased  with  it:  "but,"  added  Petrey  "  I  myself 
tjhihk  it  too  long." — "  That,"  answered  Blow,  "  is  the  opi- 
nion of  bat  one  fool,  and  I  heed  it  not."  This  provoked 
the  Jesuit  so  much  that  he  prevailed  on  the  king  to  sus- 
pend Blow,  and  the  consequences  might  perhaps  have 
been  more  serious,  had  not  the  revolution  immediately 
followed. 

Though  Dr.  Blow's  church  music  was  never  collected  in 
a  body,  yet  besides  the  three  services  and  ten  full  and 
verse  anthems  printed  by  Boyce,  nineteen  of  his  choral 
productions  have  been  preserved  in  Dr.  Tud  way's  MS 
collection  ;  and  in  Dr.  Aldrich's  collection  in  Christ  churchy 
there  are  five  more.  He  appears  to  have  been  a  composer 
of  anthems,  even  while  a  singing-boy  in  the  chapel  royal. 
His  secular  compositions  were  published  in  a  folio  volume 
in  J7Q0,  under  the  title  of  "  Amphion  Anglicus,"  in  imi- 
tation of  Purcell's  collection,  the  "  Orpheus  Britannicus," 
but  are  deemed  considerably  inferior.  Some  of  his  choral 
productions  are  in  a  very  bold  and  grand  style,  yet  he  is 
unequal  and  frequently  unhappy  in  his  attempts  at  new^ 
harmony  and  composition.  Dr.  Burney  has  given  a  very 
elaborate  criticism  on  all  his  works,  accompanied  by  spe- 
cimens on  plates,  by  which  it  app^ears  that  he  was  either 


43* .  BLOW. 

defective  in  some  of  the  qualifications  of  a  great  coe^nponety 
or  careless  and  inaccurate.  ^ 

BLUM  (Joachim  Christian),  a  German  poet,  was  born 
at  Rathenau,  in  the  March  of  Brandenburgh,  Nov.r  17, 
1739.  He  studied  at  Brandenburgh,  Berlin,  and  Franc- 
fort  on  the  Oder,  and  appears  to  have  been  intended  either 
for  the  church  or  the  bar,  but  preferred  philosophy  a^id 
polite  literature,  which  he  cultivated  with  success,  under 
Uamler  and  Alexander. Baumgarten,  and  afterwards  de- 
voted .himself  to  a  retired  life  in  his  own  country.  His 
first  publication^  "Lyric  Poems,"  published  at  Berlin  ia 
1765,  procured  him  very  high  reputation;  and  was  fol- 
lowed, in  1776,  by  another  volume  of  idylls  and  miscella- 
neous pieces^  in  a  style  of  poetry,  simple,  pure,  original, 
and  elegant.  In  1785  appeared  an  additional  volume,  which 
contributed  to  support  the  character  he  had  acquired.  In 
prose  he  published  what  were  called  "  Walks,"  moral  and 
critical,  and  a  "  Dictionary  of  German  proverbs/'  Leipsic, 
1782,  with  their  explanations  and  origin.  He  died  at 
Rathenau^  Aug.  28,  1790,  leaving  the  character  of  an 
amiable. and  virtuous  man,  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him, 
and  esteemed  by  his  countrymen  as  one  of  the  best  of  their 
modern  poets,  although  perhaps  not  belonging  to  the  first 
class.* 

BLUTEAU  (DoM  Raphael),  a  Theatine,  was  born  at 
London  of  French  parents,  Dec.  4,  1638,  and  became  cele- 
brated for  his  acquirements  both  in  sacred  and  .  profane: 
learning.  Having  gone  to  Portugal,  he  learned  the  lan- 
guage of  that  country  in  six  months,  and  preached  several 
times  before  the  king  and  queen.  He  was  also  admitted 
into  the  academy,  and  appointed  to  an  ofEce  in  the  inqui-; 
sition.  '  His  biographers  tell  us  that  when  in  England  he > 
had  been  chaplam  or  preacher  to  Henrietta  Maria  queen  to 
Charles  I.  forgetting  that  he  could  not  be  ten  years  old 
when  that  unhappy  princess  was  expatriated.  He  died  at 
Lisbon,  Feb.  13,  1734,  in  the  ninety-fifth  year  of  his  age» 
On  the  28th  of  the  same  month  his  eloge  was  pronounced 
in  the  academy,  and  two  learned  doctors  gravely  discussed 
the  question,  ^^  whether  England  was  most  honoured  in; 
his  birth,  or  Portugal  in  his  death  ?"  On  the  same  occasion 

^  Burney'g  Hist,  of  Music,  vol.  III.— Sir  John  Hawkinses  HisU 
'  *  Biog.  Universelle. 


B  L  U  T  E  A  U.  43S 

variods  pieces  both  in  Latin  and  Portuguese  were  recited 
to  his  memory.  His  works,  which  must  justify  this  high 
panegyric,  are,  1.  **  A  Vocabulary  or  Dictionary,  Portu- 
guese and  Latin,*'  Coimbra,  1712 — 1728^  10  vols,  folio, 
including  a  supplement  iu  2  vols.  Moraes  de  Silva  com* 
piled  from  this  voluminous  work  a  good  Portuguese  Dic- 
tionary, printed  at  Lisbon,  1789,  2  vols.  4to.  2.  "  6ra- 
culum  utriusque  Testament!,  museeum  Bluteavianum.'* 
3.  <^  A  List  of  all  Dictionaries,  Portuguese,  Castilian,  Ita<- 
lian,  French,  aj[id  Latin,'*  with  the  dates,  &c.  Lisbon,  1728, 
and  printed  in  the  supplement  to  his  Dictionary.  4.  Ser-> 
znons  and  panegyrics,  under  the  title  *^  Primicias  Evange- 
licas  "  1685    4to.  * 

BOADICEA,  BOUDICEA,  or  BONDUCA,  a  re- 
nowned British  queen  of  the  first  century,  was  the  wife  of 
Prasatagus,  king  of  the  Ic^ni  (the  inhabitants  of  Norfolk, 
Suffolk,  Cambridge,  and  Huntingdonshires),  who  in  order 
to  secure  the  friendship  and  protection  of  Nero  to  his  wife 
and  family,  left  the  emperor  and  his  daughters  co-heirs. 
But  as  soon  as  he  was  dead,  the  emperor's  officers  seized 
upon  his  effects  in  their  master's  name.  Boadicea,  widow 
of  the  deceased  king,  strongly  remonstrated  agaiqst  these 
unjust  proceedings :  but  her  complaints  only  exposed  her 
to  farther  wrongs  and  injuries^  which  she  resented  in  such 
terms,  as  provoked  the  officers  to  treat  her  in  the  most 
barbaipus  manner ;  thefy  caused  her  to  be  publicly 
scourged,  and  her  daughters  to  be  ravished. 

This  story  soon  spread  through  the  island,  and  the  public 
indignation  was  so  generally  raised,  that  all,  excepting  Lon- 
don, agreed  to  revolt  The  Roman  historians  themselves 
acknowledge,  that  the  violence  and  injustice  of  the  em- 
peror's officers  gave  the  Britons  sufficient  reason  to  lay 
aside  their  private  animosities,  and  while  they  aided  the 
queen  to  revenge  her  wrongs,  to  recover  their  own  liberty. 
Accordingly  she  put  herself  at  their  head,  and  earnestly 
exhorted  them  to  take  advantage  of  the  absence  of  the 
Roman  general,  then  in  the  isle  of  Man,  by  putting  these 
foreign  oppressors  all  to  the  sword.  T^ey  readily  em- 
braced the  proposal ;  and  attacking  the  Romans  wherever 
they  found  them,  massacred  all  without  distinction  of  age 
or  sex ;  and  it  is  sal  1  that  seventy  thousand  perished  on 
this  occasion.     In  the  mean  time,  Suetonius  Paulinus,  the 

^  fiiog.  UniTerselle.— Moreri% 

Vol.  V.  F  p 


434  -         fe  6  A  D  I  C  E  A. 

■ 

Roman  general^  suddenly  returning,  marched  against  the 
revolted  Britons^  who  had  an  army  of  1 00,000,  or,  accovd- 
ing  to  Dio  Cassius,  230,000  men,  under  the  conduct  of 
Boadicea.  The  fine  person  of  Boadicea,  fair  and  digni- 
tied,  and  her  undaunted  courage,  inspired  the  most  ardent 
hopes.  I'aulinus,  likewise,  was  in  great  perplexity ;  the 
ninth  legion  had  l>een  defeated  by  the  enemy,  and  PcenUis 
Posthumus,  at  the  head  of  a  large  detachment  of  the  se- 
cond, refused  to  join  him  ;  so  that  he  had  the  choice  but  of 
two  expedients,  either  to  march  with  his  army,  not  ex- 
ceeding 10,000,  into  the  open  field  against  his  numerous 
enemies,  or  shut  himself  up  in  some  town  and  wait  for  them. 
At  first  he  chose  the  latter,  and  remained  in  London,  but 
soon  altered  his  resolution;  and  instead  of  retiring  from 
the  Britons,  who  were  now  on  the  march  towards  him,  he 
resolved  to  meet  them.  The .  field  of  battle  he  pitched 
upon  was  a  narrow  tract  of  sround,  facing  a  large  plain, 
where  they  encamped,  and  his  rear  was  secured  by  a  fo- 
rest. The  Britons  traversed  the  plain  in  large  bodies, 
exulting  in  their  numbers ;  and,  secure  of  victory,  had 
brought  their  wives  and  children  in  waggons  ip  be  specta-» 
tors  of  their  actions  in  the  battle,  placing  them  round  their 
entrenchmentSw 

Boadicea>  in  the  mean  time,  was  not  idle,  but  mounting 
her  chariot,  with  her  two  daughters,  rode  up  and  down 
through  the  several  squadrons  of  her  army,  whom  she  ad- 
dressed to  the  following  effect :  *^  That  it  was  not  the  .first 
time  the  Britons  had  been  victorious,  under  the  conduct 
of  their  queen.  That,  for  her  part,  she  came  not  there 
as  one  descended  of  royal  blood,  to  fight  for  empire  or 
riches,  but  as  one  of  the  common  people,  to  avenge  the 
loss  of  their  liberty,  and  the  wrongs  of  herself  and  children. 
That  the  wickedness  of  the  Romans  was  come  to  its  height ; 
and  that  the  gods  had  already  begun  to  punish  them ;  so 
that,  instead  of  being  able  to  ^thstand  the  attack  of  a 
victorious  army,  the  very  shouts  of  so  many  thousands 
would  put  them  to  flight.  That  if  the  Britons  would  but 
consider  the  number  of  their  forces,  or  the  motives  of  the 
war,  they  would  resolve  to  vanquish  or  die.  That  it  was 
much  better  to  fall  honourably  in  defence  of  liberty,  than 
be  again  exposed  to  the  outrages  of  the  Romans.  Such 
at  least  was  her  resolution ;  as  for  the  nt^n,  they  might, 
if  they  pleased,  live  and  be  slaves.^*    At  the  end  of  her 


\ 


B  O  A  D  I  C  £  A*.  4S5 

speech  she  ia  said  to  have  let  loose  a  hare,  which  she  had 
concealed;  as  an  omen  of  victory. 

While  Boadicea  thnk  laboured  to  animate  h^r  Britons 
to,  behave  with  their  wonted  bravery,  Paulinus  was  uo  less 
assiduous  in  preparing  his  troops  for  the  encounter*  /The 
Britons  expected  his  soldiers  to  be  daunted  at  their  num- 
ber, but  when  they  saw  them  advance  with  short  step^s, 
sword  in  hanjl,  without  discovering  any  fear,  their  hearts 
began  to  fail  them,  and  they  fell  into  disorder,  which 
continually  increased,  it  not  being  in  the  power  of  their 
commanders  to  lead  them  back  to  the  charge.  The  Ro- 
mans observing  their  consternation,  pushed  the  advantage 
with  great  fury,  and  threw  their  army  into  a  confusipit 
past  the  possibility  of  recovery*  They  gave  no  quarter, 
and  80,000  of  the  Britons  perished.  Boadicea  herself 
Scaped  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  conquerors ;  but, 
.unable  to  survive  the  remembrance  of  this  terrible  defeat, 
either  fell  a  victim  to  despair  or  poison*  This  battle  was 
fought  in  the  year  61.^ 

BOATE  (Dr.  Gerard),  a  Dutchman,  and  physician. to 
the  state  in  Ireland,  in  1649,  deserves  some  notice  here, 
as  being  the  first  inquirer  into  the  natural  history  of  Ire- 
land, of  which  he  published  an  account.  He  lived  to  hold 
his^  post  of  physician  to  the  state  only  eight  months,  dying 
either  in  1649  or  1650,  but  compiled  part  of  it  some  yeard 
before  he  went  over,  from  materials  furnished  by  sir  Wil- 
liam and  sir  Richard  Parsons,  and  his  own  brother.  Dr. 
Arnold  Boate,  who  practised  physic  eight  yesa's  at  Dublin, 
and  spent  some  months  with  him  at  London,  in  his  way  to 
Paris,  in  1644,  instructing  him  how  to  improve  certaia 
forfeited  lands  he  had  purchased  in  Leinster  and  Ulster. 
The  title  of  his  book  is  "  Ireland's  Natural  History,  &c.** 
published  by  Samuel  Hartlib,  esq.  '<  for  the  common  good 
of  Ireland,  and  more  especially  for  the  benefit  of  the  ad- 
venturers and  planters  therein,'^  Lond.  1652,  12mo.  Al- 
though some  of  his  accounts  are  imperfect,  and  his  topo- 
graphical errors  numerous,  it  is  wonderful  that  a  stranger 
sljould  have  accomplished  so  much,  and  at  lea^t  run  away 
with  the  honour  of  laying  the  foundation  of  the  natural 
history  of  Ireland.  He  intended  a  second  and  a  third 
book  of  the  vegetables  and  animals,  and  a  fourth  of  the 
natives,    their  old  fashions,  laws,  and  customs,  and  the 

1  Biog.  Brit. — 'Henry. — Hume^  &.c.  Hist,  of  Englahd. 

F  F  2 


43€  B  O  A  T  E. 

.  .  ■•  . 
attempts  of  th^Ir  English  conquerors  to  civilize  and  improve 
both  them  and  their  country,  which  his  brother,  in  his 
letter  to  Hartlib,  promised  to  publish.  What  he  published 
was  afterwards  incorporated  into  a  Natural  History  of  Tre- 
land,  by  several  hands,  1736,  reprinted  i 755,  with  a  neir 
preface  and  index  of  chapters,  4to.  Boaters  hook  waB 
translated  into  French  by  Briot,  and.  published  at  Paris 
1666,  12mo.  We  have  no  farther  account  of  his  history; 
but  Weston,  in  his  catalogue  of  English  writers  on  hus- 
bandry, says  that  his  true  name  was  Beats.  * 

B'OBAjRT  (Jacob),  a  German  horticulturist,  who  came 
to,  England  about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
was  appointed  first  superintendant  of  the  physic-garden  at 
Oxford,  founded  in  1632  by  Henry  earl  of  Danby.  Some 
writers  call  him  doctor,  and  some  professor  of  botany,  but 
be  was  neither,  nor  was  there  any  professor,  properly  so 
called,  before  Dillenius.  The  "  Catalogus  Plantarum" 
in  this  garden,  published  at  Oxford  in  1648,  12mo,  was 
drawn  up  by  Bobart,  and  is  a  very  favourable  proof  of  his 
zeal  and  diligence.  Under  his  care  and  that  of  his  son, 
the  garden  at  Oxford  continued  to  flourish  for  many  years. 
The  old  man,  according  to  Wood,  lived  in  the  garden- 
house,  and  died  there  Feb.  4,  1679,  aged  eighty-ona 
JVf  r.  Granger  relates  an  anecdote  that  ^'  on  rejoicing  days 
old  Bobart  used  to  have  his  beard  tagged  with  silver.'*  He 
left  two  sons,  Jacob  and  Tillemant,  who  were  both  em- 
ployed in  the  physic-garden.  Jacob,  who  seems  to  have 
been  a  man  of  some  learning,  published  the  second  volume 
of  Mprison's  "  Oxford  history  of  Plants,''  1699,  fol.  Of 
him  too,  aiv  anecdote  is  told  which  implies  somewhat  of 
a  humourous  disposition.  He  had  transformed  a  dead  rat 
into  the  feigned  figure  of  a  dragon,  which  imposed  upon 
the  learned  so  far,  that  ^^  several  fine  copies  of  verses 
were  wrote  on  so  rare  a  subject."  Bobart  afterwards 
owned  the  cheat ;  but  it  was  preserved  for  some  years,  as 
a  master-piece  of  art.  Dr.  Pulteney  thinks  Bobart  was 
alive  in  1704;  but  he  appears  to  have  lived  considerably 
longer,  as  Dr.  Abel  Evans  dedicated  "  Vertumnus,"  a 
poetical  epistle,  to  him  in  1713.  A  descendant  pf  this 
family,  Tillemant  Bobart,  is  still  well  known  to  ail  who 
wish  for  civil  treatment  and  a  safe  carriage  on  the  road  to 
Oxford.  • 

1  Gougb's  Topography,  vol.  II. — ^PuUeney's  Sketches. — Biog.  UniTerselle. 
*  Pulteiiey's  Sketches. — Nichols's  Poems,  rol.  lII.^-GraDger,  fcc« 


BOCCACCIO,  437 

BOCCACCIO  (John),  one  of  the  most  eminent  Italian 
J)oets  and  scholars,  and  one  of  the  reyivers  of  literature  in 
Europe,  was  born  in  1313.  Hi&  father  was  a  merchant  of 
Florence,  when  to  be  a  merchant  was  the  first  of  situations^ 
and  his  family  was  originally  of  Certaldo,  a  village  about 
twenty  miles  from  Florence,  which  accounts  for  Boccacci6 
always  adding  to  his  name  the  words  "  da  Certaldo.''  He  was 
not,  therefore,  the  son  of  a  peasant,  as  reported  by  some 
biographers,  but  it  cannot  be  denied  that  he  was  the  fruit 
bf  an  illicit  connection  which  his  father  formed  at  PariS| 
where  he  happened  to  be  on  commericial  business,*  and 
where  this  son  was  born,  and  it  appears,  likewise,  that  his 
father  was  not  very  rich.  6eing,  however,  brought  early 
to  Florence,  his  education  commenced  there,  and  he  is 
said  to  have  evinced  a  decided  attachment  to  poetry  before^ 
be  was  ten  years  old,  about  which  time  his  father  placed 
him  in  a  merchant's  counting-house,  to  learn  arithmetic 
and  book-keeping,  that  he  might  be  the  sooner  enabled  to 
provide  for  him  among  his  connections.  Some  yfears  after, 
this  merchant  took  him  to  Paris,  where  he  went  to  set  up 
in  business,  and  for  six  years,  during  which  Boccaccio 
resided  in  his  house,  endeavoured  to  reconcile  him  to 
trade  ;  but  finding  after  every  experiment,  either  by  per- 
suasion or  constraint,  that  this  was  impossible,  he  at  length 
sent  him  home  to  his  father. 

At  Florence,  a*-  at  Paris,  Boccaccio's  time  was  divided 
between  mercantile  employment,  to  which  be  had  a 
fixed*  dislike,  and  his  taste  for  literature,  which-  he  con- 
trived to  indulge  whenever  possible.  Tliis  became  more 
easy  at  Naples,  where  his  father  had  sent  him  in  i333,  that 
he  might  be  detached  entirely  from  his  studies^  and  ac- 
quire a  zest  for  commercial  pursuits ;  but  here,  during  a 
residence  of  eight  years,  instead  of  giving  his  company 
oiily  to  merchants,  he  formed  an  acquaintance  with  the 
ipost  eminent  men  of  letters,  both  Neapolitans  and  Flo* 
rentines,  who  lived  there  under  the  liberal  patronage  of 
king  Robert.  There  is  no  reason,  however,  to  suppose 
that  Boccaccio  profited  by  this  monarch's  bounty,  but  he 
iappears  to  have  acquired  the  good  gr^^ces  of  one  of  the 
king's  natural  daughters,  a  married  lady,  for  whom  he 
composed  several  pieces  both  in  prose  and  verse,  and  whom 
he  often  mentions  under  the  name  of  Fiammetta.  Generally 
admired  for  his  personal  accomplishments,  wit,  and  spirit^ 
and  happy  in  his  attachmept  to  a  king^'s  daughter,  it  is  not 


4S«  BOCCACCIO. 

very  surprising  that   the  fulfilment  of  his  father's  wishes 
as  to  trade  should  become  more  and  more  difEculu     The 
taste  which  his  mistress  had  for  poetry,  his  acquaintance 
with  men  of  letters,    the  deep  impression  made  on  his 
saind  by  an  accidental  view  of  Virgil's  tomb,  the  presence 
of  the  celebrated  Petrarch,   who  was  received  with  the 
highest  distinction  at  the  court  of  Naples,  in   1341,'  and 
who  was  about  to  receive  the  same   honours    at  Rome^ 
and  the  acquaintance   Boccaccio  had   formed  with  him, 
all  contributed,   with  his  natural  bent,   to  decide   irre- 
vocably that  he  should  be  a  scholar  and  a  poet.     On  his 
return  to  Naples,  after  a  residence  of  two  years  with  his 
fathier  at  Florence,    he  was  favourably  received  by  the 
queen,  who  now  reigned  in  the  room  of  her  deceased  hus- 
band,  and  it  is  said  that  it  was  to  please  her,  as  well  as 
his  beloved  Fiammietta,  that  he  began  to  write  the  "De- 
cameron,** which  unquestionably  places  him  in  the  first 
Vank  of  Italian  prose  writers.     In  the  mean  time,  his  father 
finding  it  impossible  to  resist  his  inclination  for  literature, 
'ceased  to  urge  him  more  oh  the  subject  of  trade,  and  only 
conditioned  with  him  ftiat  lie  slioiild  study'  tM  canon  law.. 
Boccaccio  endeavoured  to '  j^lease^im,  bUt  found  the  De- 
cretals worse  th?in  the  ledger  and  the  day-book,  aiid  returned 
with  fresh  ardour  to  the  muses  and  the  classics,  studying 
to  acqiiire  a  purer  Latin  style  than  hitherto,  and  to  add 
to  his  treasures  a  knowledge  of  the  Greek.  This  he  learned 
partly  in  Calabria,  where  he  frequently  wfirit,  or  in  Naples, 
-wheri  *he  had  fornied  an  intimacy  with  Paul  of  Perugia, 
ah  able  Greek  gramnv^irian,  and  librarian  to  king  Robert. 
He  studied  also  mathematics,  astropoipy,  or  rather  astro-* 
logy,  under  a  celebrated  Genoese,  Andelone  del  Nero, 
and  even  paid  some  attention  to  the  outlines  of  theology, 
but  it  does  not  appear  that  be  went  much  farther^ 

On  the  death  of  his  father,  being  entirely  at  liberty, 
and  with  some  little  property,  to  pursue  his  inclination, 
he  first  settled  at  Florence,  where  nis  studies  were  inter-^ 
rupted  only  by  his  pleasures,'  and  some  very  honourable 
employments  cgnfiaed  to  him  by  his  fellow  citizens. 
Among  otheri,  one  must  have  been  peculiarly  gratifying 
to  him.  This  was  his  being  sept  to  Padua  in  1350,  to 
announce  to  Petrarch  the  news  of  his  recall,  and  the  re* 
stitution  of  his  father's  property,  who  had  formerly  been 
banished  from  Florence, /and  died  in  exile,  Sudi  an  er- 
jaod  ba4  9^  natural  tenaency  to  cemeat  their  mendship. 


BOCCACCIO,  43» 

Some  years  after,  when  Boccaccio  had  spent  bis  little  pro- 
perty, partly  in  purchasing  books,  and  partly  in  grati- 
fying his  taste  for  pleasure,  he  found  in  Petrarch  a  friend, 
who,  besides  assisting  his  wants,  gave  hitn  such  affec- 
tionate and  judicious  advice  as  produced  a  very  salutary 
change  in  his  conduct.  Before  this,  while  suffering  under 
the  reflections  of  bis  follies,  in  1361,  a  friar  had  persuaded 
him  to  renounce  the  world,  and  all  that  could  be  called 
jprofane  learning.  The  fact  seems  to  have  been,  that 
Boccaccio,  in  his  D^cam^-one,  which  first  appeared  in 
1353,  bad  satirized  the  licentious  lives  of  the  monks,  and 
this  friar  came  to  him  with  a  story  of  his  having  seen  a  vi- 
sion, and  being  commissioned  to  warn  him  of  his  danger, 
if  he  did  not  renounce  his  sins,  and  burn  his  Decamerone.; 
and  Boccaccio  was  so  alarmed,  that  he  actually  put  on  the 
ecclesiastical  liabit,  (for  whipfa,  as  being  a  natural  son,  he 
was  obliged  to  apply  to  the  pope  ior  a  dispensation)  and 
resumed  the  study  of  theology;  but  he  soon  found  that 
this  was  too  late,  and  too  averse  from  bis  habits,  and  he 
therefore  had  recourse  to  Petrarch,  who  persuaded  him  to 
remove  to  Certaldo,  where  he  bad  a  small  estate,  and 
pursue  his  literary  labours  ia  that  retirement. 

Before  this  time,  all  his  works,  and  they  only  works  of 
amusement,  were  written  in  Italian,  but  now  he  began  to 
compose  on  the  subjects  of  literature  aud  history  in  Latin, 
and  one  of  these  treatises  was  the  first  modem  work  that 
gave  any  account  of  the  mythological  notions  of  the  an- 
tients.  We  have  already  noticed  that  he  was  w^U  ac- 
quainted with  Greek,  and  brought  with  him,  at  his  own 
expensei  from  Venice  to  Florence,  Leontius  Pilatus  of  Thes-*^ 
salonica,  and  entertained  him  in  his  house  for  three  years. 
'  During  this  time  he  improved  bis  knowledge  of  Greek,'  and 
'  Leontius  went  over  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey  with  him, 
translating  it  into  Latin.  Boccaccip  was  the  first  who  was 
^l  the  expence  of  importing  from  Greepe  MSS.  of  both  the 
Iliad  and  Odyssey,  among  many  other  valuable  MSS.  both 
Greek  and  Lathi,  by  which  be  endeavoured  to  introduce  a' 
taste  for  these  valuably'  remains  of  antiquity,  and  particu- 
larly for  the  Greek'  aiithors,  in  preference  to  the  scholastic, 
studies,  which  alone  were  at  this  time  pursued  in  the  schools. 

It  must  be  confessed,  however,  that  Boccacoio  was  not 
critically  skilled  in  the  Greek.  For  want  of  lexicons  and 
grammars,  he  was  obliged  to  content  himself  with  the  gene- 
ral sense  of  what  he  read,  aqd  did  not  acquire  that  accun^te^ 


440 


BOCCACCIO. 


knowledge/  which  dUtingui&bed  the  scholars  of  the  tvrb 
succeeding  centuries.  Still  bis  acquisitions  and  his  zeal 
entitle  him  to  high  praise,  and  he  was  the  means  of  esta- 
blishing a  isort  of  Greek  colony  at  Florence,  at  a  time  when 
that  language  ws^  an^absolute  stranger  in  all  the  schools  and 
universities  of  Europe. 

While  at  Certaldo,  he  was  liot  forgot.  The  high  charac<* 
ter  he  had  already  attained  induced  the  republic  df  Fio« 
jrence  to  send  him  on  two  embassies  to  pope  Urban  V.  which 
h^  accomplished  to  their  satisfaibtion,  but  after  bis  return 
to  Certaldo,  be  experienced  a  long  illness,  which  left  a 
great  degree  of  langour  and  dejection.  Recovering,  howe- 
ver, from  this,  be  took  upon  him  an  employment  peculiarly 
gratifying  to  him  in  every  respect.  He  bad  always  been  a 
great  admirer  of  Dante,  bad  often  copied  his  works,  and 
knew  them  almost  by  heart  ^.^  The  Florentines,  who  had 
persecuted  and  banished  that  celebrated  poet,  were  now 
disposed  to  make  some  reparation,  by  instituting,  by  a  de« 
cree  of  the  senate,  a  professorship  for  lectures  on  his 
poems,  and  Boccaccio  was  appointed  to  this  new  chair. 
How  much  he  was  delighted  in  an  employment,  not  only 
highly  honourable,  but  congenial  to  hia  babtts,  may  easily 
be  conceived.  I'he  pains  he  took,  however,  retarded  bis 
recovery  from  his  late  illness,  and  :the  death  of  Petrarch,  of 
which  he  was  at  this  time  informed^  appears  to  have  hastened 
his  own.  .  He  became  more  and  more  weak,  and  did  hot 
survive  bis  illustrious  friend  and  master  above  a  year,  dying 
at  Certaldo,  Dec.  21,  1375.  He  was  buried  there  in  the 
church  of  St  James  and  St  Philip,  and  the  following  in- 
scription, written  by  himself,  was^  engraven  on  his  tomb : 

,     Hac  sub  mole  jacent  cineres  ae  ossa  Joannis; 
Mens  sedet  ante  Devon  meritis  ornata  laborum 
Mortalis  vitsB.  GenitorBoccaccius  illi> 
Patria  Certaldum>  studliim  fiiit  alma  Pofois. 

In  person  be  is  described,  as  inclining  to  corpulence, 
but  his  stature  was  portly,  his  face  round,  with  a  nose  a  lit* 
tie  depressed  above  the  nostrils,  his  lips  somewhat  full,  but 


*  In  1559,  Boccaccio  sent  to  Pe- 
trarch is  copy  of  Daute,  whom  he  called 
his  father,  written  with  his  own  hand. 
And  it  is  reoiaFkable  that  he  accom- 
panied his  present  with  an  apology  for 
sending  this  poem  to  Petrarch,  who,  it 
seems,  was  jealous  of  Dante,  and  in 
the  answer  speaks  coldly  of  its  merits. 
This  circumstance,  unobserved  by  the 


generality  of  wrrtcrd,  and  even  by 
Fontanini,  Crelcembini,  and  Muraton* 
is  brought  forward,  and  related  at 
large,  in  the  third  volume,  p.  507,  of 
the  yery  entertaining  Memoirs  of  th? 
Life  of  Petrarch.  The  manuscript, 
which  is  beautifully  written,  and 
adorned  with  illuminations,  h-  now  ia 
the  Imperial  library  of  Paris. 


B  O  C  C  A  C  G  I  a  iiV 

aeverdieless  handsome  and  well-formed,  bis  <;.hin  dimpled 
and  beautiful  when  he  smiled,  his  aspect  jocund  and  gay^ 
and  his  discourse  agreeable  and  polished. 

A  short  time  before  bis  death  be  made  his  will,  be* 
queatbing  what  property  he  had  to  his  two  nephews,  the  son^ 
of  James,  his  elder  brother.  The  most  valuable  iegacyy 
however,  was  that  of  his  books,  which  were  almost  all  copies 
by  his  own  hand,  or  collected  at  great  e:^pence.  These  he 
left  to  one  father  Martin,  an  Augustine,  who  was  his  exe** 
cutor,  and  in  this  perhaps  bis  adviser,  with  a  view  that  they 
might  becpmt^.  the  property  of  his  convent.  They  were^ 
however,  lost  to  the  world.  A  celebrated  scholar,  Niccolo 
l^iccoH,  in  the  suc(;eeding  century,  built  in  ttiat  convent 
a  library  for  the  express  purpose  of  preserving  Boccaceio^s^ 
books,  hyki  time  djestroyed  them  and  it.  It  has  been  re^ 
marked  as  .somewhat  singular,  that  in  this  will,  Boccaccio 
makes  no  mention  of  a  natural  son  be  had  in  his  youth,  and 
who  was  settled  at-Florence,  yet  this  young  man  superiu- 
tended  bis  funeral,  and  caused  the  above  inscription  to  be 
engraven  on  his.tomb^  He  was  universally  regrettecl  al 
Florence,  where,  in  his  poverty,  he  had  not  met  with  very 
liberal  attentions.  Verses,  however,  are  more  easily  bey 
stowed  than  mpuey,  and  the  poets  of  the  time,  particu** 
larly  Sachetti,  hastened  with  their  contributions  to  his 
memory.  Two  medals. also  were  struck,  and  twenty  years 
afterwards,  the  republic  wishing  to  pay  higher  honour  to 
him  as  well  as  to  Dante  and  Petrarch,  deliberated  on  a 
magnificent  monument  to  be  erected  to  the  three  greater* 
naments  of  their  country  in  the  church  of  St.  Maria  del 
Fiore,  but  this  was  never  carried  into  execution.  . 

The  predon^inant  passion  of  BoofE^accio,  in  youth,  was 
the  love  of  pleasure  tempered  by  that  of  study ;  as  he  ad-« 
vanced  in  age,  stqdy  became  his  sole  delight.  He  had  no 
ambition  either  for  rank  or  fortune.  The  public  emplo}^ 
](nents  confided  to  himeame  unasked,  and  when  b^e  could 
lay  them  down,  he  did  so.  He  was  equally  averse  to  any 
domestic  employments  which  were  likely  to  take  up  much 
of  his  time,  ajid  would  accept  of  no  private  tutorships, 
which  so  often  eventually  promote  a  man^s  interest.  His 
character  was  frank  and  open,  but  not  without  a  degree  of 
pride,  which,  however,  particularly  when  he  was  in  low 
circumstances,  keipt  him  from  mean  compliances.  With 
respect  to  his  talents,  it  i«  evident  that  he  had  always  made 
a  false  estimate  of  them ;  he  bad  the  fullest  confidence  in 
bis  poetical  powers,  yet  nothing  he  wrote  in  verse  rises 


412  BOCCACCIO. 

• 

above  mediocrity,  and  many  of  his  prose  Italian  writing* 
deserve  no  higher  praise.  He  is  superior  and  inimitable 
only  in  his  tales,  on  which  he  did  not  pride  himself,  nor  in^ 
deed  set  any  value.  He  fell  into  the  same  error  with  hi» 
master  Petrarch  in  supposing  that  his  serious  Latin  worb 
would  be  the  source  of  his  fame,  which  he  owes  entirely 
to  his  Tales,  as  Petrarcb  owes  his  to  his  love* verses.  All 
his  Latin  writings  are  crude  and  hasty.  In  them,  says  Paul 
Cortesius^  <'he  labours  with  thought,  and  struggles  to  give 
it  utterance :  but  his  sentiments  find  no  adequate  vehicle, 
and  the  lustre  of  his  native  talents  is  obscured  by  the  de- 
praved taste  of  the  times.''  In  his  youth,  he  was  flattered 
as  having  obtained  the  second  place  in  poetry,  his 
admiration  for  Dante  hot  permitting  him  to  aspire  to  the 
first,  and  the  sonnets  of  Petrarch  were  not  yet  known.  It 
is  to  his  honour,  however,  that  as  doon  as  he  saw  the  latter, 
he  threw  into  the  fire  the  greater  part  of  his  lyric  composi-^ 
tions,  sonnets,  canzoni,  &c.  and  seems  to  have  determined 
to  apply  himself  entirely  to  the  perfection  of  Italian  prose^ 
in  which  it  must  be  confessed  he  has  succeeded  admirably. 
As  a  recent  event  has  rendered  some  of  Boccaccio's 
writings  an  object  of  research  among  collectors,  we  shall 
enter  somewhat  more  fully  than  is  usual  into  a  detail  of 
their  editions.  Among  his  Latin  works,  we  have,  1.  **  De, 
gehealogia  Deorum  lib.  XV.  De  montium»  sylyarum,  1u- 
cuum,  fluviprum,  stagnprum^et  marium  nominibus,  liber.'* 
These  two  were  first  printed  together  in  folio  without  date, 
but  supposed  to  be  at  Venice,  and  anterior  to  1472^  in 
which  year  appeared  the  second  edition,  at  Venice,  with 
that  date.  The  third  was  published  at  the  same  place  in 
1473,  and  followed  by  others  at  Reggio,  Vincenza,  Ve- 
nice, Paris,  and  Basle,  which  last,  in  1532,  is  accompa* 
nied  with  notes  and  supplements.  This  account  of  the  ge-^ 
nealogy.of  the«Gods,  orthe  heathen  mythology,  must  have 
been  the  fruit  of  immense  reading,  and  as  no  information 
on  the  subject  existed  then,  a  high  value  was  placed  on  it, 
although  it  has- been  since  supersedcfd  by  more  recent  aad 
accurate  works.  He  has  been  very  unjustly  accused  x>( 
quoting  authors  no  where  else  to  be  found,  as  if  he  had  in* 
vented  their  names,  but  it  is  surely  more  reasonable  to 
think  they  might  be  known  in  his  days,  although  their  me<t 
«.  mory  has  since  perished,  or  that  he  might  have  been  himr- 
self  deceived.  This  same  work,  translated  into  Italian  by 
Joseph  Setussi;  has  gone  through  twelve  or  thirteen  edi^ 


BO  C  C  A  C  C  I  O.  443* 

^ons,  the  first,  of  Venice,    1*547,    4tb.     There  are  also 
two  French  translations,  the  fir^t  anonymous,  Paris,   1498, 
fol,  and   1531,  also  in  fol.  the  second  by  Claude  Wittard, 
Paris,  1578,  8vo.     The  lesser  book,  or  Dictionary  of  the 
names  of  mountains,  forests,  &c/ was  also  translated  into 
Itdtan  by  Niccolo  Liburnio,  and  printed  in  4to.  without 
date  or  place,  but  there  is  a  second' edition  at  Florence, 
1 598,  8vo.     2.  **  De  casibus  Virornm  et  Foeminarum  illus- 
trium  libri  IX/*  Paris,  1535,   1544,  fol.'  and  at  Vincenza 
the  same  year ;  translated  into  Italian  by  Betussi,  Venice, 
1545,  8vo,  and  often  reprinted.     But  there  must  have  been 
an  edition  long  previous  to  the  oldest  of  these,  as  we  IBnd  it 
Ifanslated  into  English  in  1494,  by  John  Lydgate,  monk  of 
£diDnundsbury,  at  the  commandment  of  Humphrey  duke  of 
Gloucester,  under  the  title  of  "John  Boccace  of  the  Fall 
of  Princes  and  Princesses  ^^     It  has  likewise  been  trans- 
lated and  often  reprinted  in  French,  Spanish,  and  Ger- 
tiian.     The  first  of  the  Spanish  translations  is  dated  Seville,^ 
1495,  and  the  first  of  the  French  was  printed  at  Bruges  id 
1476,    folio,    then  at  Pari^,    1483,    at    Lyons   the  same 
year,  and  again  at  Paris  in  1494,   1515,  foHo,  and  1578, 
Svo.     3.  <^  De  Claris  Mulierjbus.'^    The  first  edition  of  this 
is  witht)ut  place  or  date,  in  the  black  letter ;  the  second  is 
that  of  Ulm,  1473,  fol.  followed  by  those  of  Louvain  and 
Berne  from  1484  to  1539.     Of  this  work  the  Italians  have 
two  translations,  one  by  Vincent  B.agli,  a  Florentine,  Ver 
nice,  1506,  4to;  the  other  by  Betussi,  who  prefixed  a  life 
of  Boccaccio,  Venice,   1545,  and   1547,  8vo.     The  first 
edition  of  the  Spanish  translation  is  dated  Seville,  1528^ 
fol.     That  of  the  Qerman  translation  is  dated  Augsburgh, 
1471,  and  was  followed  by  one  at  Ulm,   1473,  4to.     The 
French   have  two  translations,  the  oldest   1493,    foil     4. 
f^Eclogae,'^  sixtteeh  in  number,  and  printed  with  those  of 
Virgil,  Calphurnius,  &c.  Florence,   1 504,  Svo.     They  are 
also  inserted  in  the '^Bucolicorum  auctores,*'  Basil,  1546, 
Svo.     Like  Petrarch,  he  introduces  the  events  of  his  time 
in  these  eclogues,  with  the  principal  personages  under  fic- 
titious names,  but  he  has  furnished  us  with  a  key  to  these 
in  a  letter  to  P.  Martin  de  Sign'a,  his  confessor,  of  which 
Manni  has  given  an  extract  in  his  history  of  the  Decameron, 
His   Italian  works  in  verse  are,  5.  "  La  Teseide,*'  the 
first  attempt  at  an  epic  in  Italian,  and  wntten  in  the  ottava 

•  Lydgate.  bovever,  ii  puppoied  to  have  takea  his  trwuUtiQii  fro|D  the  fiei)ch 
•fl**?^. 


444.  BOCCACCIO, 

rima.  or  heroic  verse,  of  which  Boccaccio  is  considered  ?A 
the  inventor;  printed  at  Ferrara,  1475,  fol.  Venice,  1528, 
4t0y  and  translated  into  French,  1597,  12inp.  6.  **  Amo^^ 
rosa  visione,"  Milan,^  1520  and  1521,  4tp,  and  with  gram- 
matical  observations  and  ah  apology  for  Boccaccio  by  Cla- 
ricio  d'EmoIa,  Venice,  1531,  8vo..  This  singular  poem  i^ 
divided  into  fifty,  cantos  or  chapters,  which  contain  five 
triumphs,  namely  those  of  wisdom,  glory,  riches,  love^  and 
fortune,  written  in  the  terza  rima,  with  a  curious  contrive 
ance,  gratifying  to  the  bad  taste  of  the  times,  by  which 
the  initial  letters  of  each  stanza  are  made  to  compose  an 
acrostic  in  praise  of  the  princess  Mary,  whom  elsewhere  he 
celebrates  under  the  name  of  Fiammetta.     7.  **  II  Filas* 


trato^,  a  poetical  romance  in  heroic  verse,  the  hero  of 
which  is  young  Troilus,  the  son  of  Priam,  and  the  subject^ 
his  amours  with  Cfaryseis,  whom  the  poet  does  not  make 
the  daughter  of  Chryses,  but  of  Calchas.  Of  this  there  ard 
four  editions ;  Bologna,  1498,  4to,  Milan,  149^,  4 to,.  Ve-- 
nice  1501  and  1528,  4to.  8.  ^*  Nimfale  Fiesolano.*^  It  is 
thought  that  in  this  poem  l^occaccio  has ,  concealed,  pnder 
the  disguise  of  a  pastoral  fictiop,  an  amorous  adventure 
"which  happened  in  his  time  in  the  environs  of  Florence, 
The  first  edition  is  in  4to.  without  place  or  date  ;  the  se- 
cond is  of  Venice  1477,  and  was  followed  by  many  others 
at  Venice  and  Florence,  and  one  recently  of  Paris,  1778, 
12mo.  It  was  translated  into  French  by  Anthony  Guercin 
du  Crest,  and  printed  at  Lyons,  1556,  16mo.  9.  *^Rime," 
or  miscellaneous  poems.  We  have  nioticed  that  he  burned 
the  greater  part  of  his  minor  poems,  but  those  which  were 
dispersed  in  manuscript  in  various  hands,  have  been  often 
collected,  and  the  publication  of  them  announced.  M. 
Baldelli,  who  has  since,  in  1806,  published  a  good  life  of 
Boccaccio,  collected  all  of  these  poems  he  could  find,  and 
printed  them  at  Leghorn,  1802,  '8vo, 

Of  his  Italian  works  in  prose,  we  may  notice,  10,  **J[l 
Filocopo,  ovyerq  aHiQrQsa.faJUca*  |ccjl  a  romance^written 
by  our  author  when  very  young,  defective  in  interest,  and 
altogether  so  in  style,  when  compared  with  what  he  wrote 
afterwards.  The  first  edition  of  this  romance  is  without 
place  or  date  ;  the  others,  which  are  all  rare,  are  those  of 
Venice,  1472,  Florence,  1472,  Milan  1476  and  1478,  all 
in  fol.  Venice,  1514,  4to,  and  often  reprinted  during  the 
i^ame  century,  and  twice  translated  into  French,  Paris,  1542, 
fol.  &c.   11.  <<  L^Ammorosa  Fianimetta/'  another  romance 


BOCCACCIO.  445 

not  much  more  valuable  tha^n  the  precediog.  Ficimmetta, 
as  we  have  ah'eady  noticed,  is  the  princess  Mary  of  whom 
he  was  enamoured,  and  Pamphile,  whose  absence  she  is 
made  deeply  to  regret,  was  himself.  Whether  this  was  a 
real  or  a  poetical  amour  is  not  very  clear.  The  romance  , 
was  first  published  without  date  or  place,  in  4to,  but  ia 
supposed  to  have  appeared  at  Padua,  with  a  Latin  title^ 
and,  2^  the  end  of  the  volume,  the  date  of  1472  ;  the  se-^ 
cond,  which  has  not  the  place,  is  dated  1480,  4to,  and 
was  followed  by  others  in  the  sixteenth  century  at  Flo- 
rence, Venice,  &c.  and  a  French  and  Spanish  translation, 
often  reprinted.  \2.  "  L'Urbano,'^  Florence,  1598,  Svo^ 
translated  into  French  under  the  title  "  Urbain  le  Mes- 
cogneu,*'  Lyons,  without  date,.  4to,  black  letter,  was  $i 
piece  which  Boccaccio  is  said  to  have  written  to  divert  his 
melancholy  for  the  death  of  his  friend  Petrarch,  but  Maz- 
zuchelli  and  other  critics  consider  it  as  spurious.  13. 
**  Ameto,  or  Nimfale  d'Ameto,"  written  with  a  mixture  of 
prose  and  verse,  is  supposed  to  relate  to  a  real  adventure 
concealed  under  a  poetical  allegory.  It  has  gone  through 
a  great  number  of  editions,  Rome  and  Venice,  1478,  4to; 
Trevisa,  1479,  4t6;  Venice,  1503,  fol. ;  Rome,  1520,  4to; 
Florence,  1521,  8vo.  14.  ^^  II  Corbaccio,  o  sia^aberintQ_ 
d*  A  more,*'  a  very  bitter  and  indecent  satire  on  a  female 
who  had  given  him  some  offence  after  his  return  to  Florence. 
In  spite  of  the  licentiousness  of  this  work,  the  style  h^s 
recommended  it  to  the  curious,  but  we  doubt  whether  thi^ 
was  the  cause  pf  its  passing  through  so  many  editions : 
Florence,  1487,  4to,  Venice,  1516,  24mo,  &c.  &c.  and  a 
valuable  edition,  Paris,  1569,  8vo,  by  Corbinelli,  with  a 
preface  and  notes.  Belleforest  translated  it  into  French, 
Paris,  1571,  1573,  and  there  was  a  second  translation  or 
imitation,  by  Premont,  entitled  **  Songe  de  Boccace,  ou 
de  Labyrinthe  d'Amour,*'  Paris,  1699,  &c.  in  which  the 
editor  has  abridged  so  much,  and  added  so  much,  that  it 
can  scarcely  be  called  Boccaccio's  work.  L5.//  Origine 
Vita  et  costumi  di  Dance  Alighieri,"  Rome,  1544,  Svo,  Flo- 
rence,^! 576,^  8vo.  In  this  life  oi  Dante  we  have  many 
anecdotes  not  elsewhere  to  be  found,  but  the  author  upon 
the  whole  inclines  too  niuch  to  the  romantic  to  attend  suf- 
ficiently to  the  strict  veracity  of  the  biographer ;  yet  the 
purity  of  the  style  recommends  it,  and  the  affection  and 
sincerity  with  which  he  praises  Dante,  form,  perhaps,  a 
curiosity,  from  one  who  had  the  ambitiQu  to  be  placed  so 


> 


MB  BOCCACCIO. 

near  hiro.  This  is  naturally  connectQd  with  16«  *^  Cogt^ 
mento  sopra  la  Commedia  di  Dante  Alighieri,"  a  valnaBle 
work,  not  only  for  style,  but  for  the  many  difficult  pas- 
sages of  Dante  which  are  admirably  illustrated,  although 
it  must  be  confessed  they  are  at  the  same  time  intermixed 
with  mtich  matter  that  has  very  little  connection  with  the 
text.  It  was  an  abridgement  of  the  lectures  which  he  gjSLve 
at  Florence,  when  attacked  with  the  disorjder  which  short- 
ened his  days,  and  was  not  printed  until  the  last  century. 
It  extends  only  to  the  17th  chapter  of  the  Inferna,  and 
forms  the  two  last  volumes  of  the  edition  of  Boccaccia's 
prose  works  (with  the  exception  of  the  Decameron)  pub- 
lished at  Naples  (with  the  false  title  of  Florence),  in  1724, 
5  vols.  8vo.  Lastly,  we  come  to  his  17.  ^^11  Decamcrone/* 
the  work  on  which  his  fame  is  permanently  establtshed* 
and  which,  of  all  works,  it  is  difficult  to  characterize  in  few 
words.  The  assertion,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  hundred 
novels  which  it  contains  are  taken  from  the  ancient  French 
writers  of  tales,  only  shows  that  those  who  maintain  this 
opinion  are  not  acquainted  either  with  these  writers,  or 
with  the  Decamerone,  of  which,  at  most,  ten  of  the  stories 
only  are  imitated  from  the  French  Fabliaux,  or  taken  from 
the  same  remote  sources,  and  it  is  equally  unjust  to  con- 
sider them  merely  as  a  collection  of  amorous  and  licen- 
tious stories.  The  greater  part  of  the  poets,  indeed,  who 
have  stolen  from  him  have  stolen  only  what  is  of  this  ob- 
noxious description,  and  therefore  easily  brought  a  re- 
proach on  the  whole.  Boccaccio,  in  this  work,  deprtcts,  as 
on  a  vast  canvass,  men  of  all  conditions,  all  characters  and 
all  ages;  and  events  of  every  kind,  comic  and  serious. 
He  exhibits  models  of  every  species  of  eloquence,  and 
carries  the  purity  and  elegance  of  the  Italian  language  to 
a  degree  of  perfection  unknown  before  his  time.  Perhaps 
few  works  of  the  kind  have  ever  been  so  popular.  For 
more  than  three  centuries  it  has  gone  through  repeated 
editions,  of  which  an  hundred  at  least  may  be  mentioned, 
and  his  biographer  very  properly  asks,  what  criticism  can 
stand  against  this  fact  ? 

In  order  to  appreciate  these  editions,  it  is  necessary  to  ^- 
vert  to  the  fate  of  this  extraordinary  work  in  the  press.  For 
about  a  century,  it  was  circulated  in  manuscript,  and  liber- 
ties of  every  kind  were  taken  at  every  transcription.  At  length 
it  was  printed  for  the  first  time,  as  has  been  supposed,  in  1 470, 
and  run  through  various  editions  to  the  end  of  the  fifteentbi 


BOCCACCIO.  447 

a^nd  for  more  than  sixty  years  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
During  this  period  it  was.  prohibited  by  the  popes  Paul  IV. 
and  Pius  IV.  who  were  in  this  respect  more  scrupulous  than 
their  twenty -five  or  twenty-six  predecessors  in  the  papal 
chair.      Two    grand  dukes  of    Tuscany,    Cosmo  I.    and 
Francis  I.  appHed  one  after  the  other  to  two  other  popes, 
Pius  V.  and  Gregory  XIII. ;  in  consequence  of  which  the 
academicians  were  employed  to  reform  the  Decameron  ; 
important  corrections  were  made,  and  many  passages  sup- 
pressed, and  in  this  state  various  editions  were  permitted 
to  be  printed.     But  with  respect  to  the  ancient  editions, 
it  is  now  necessary  to  observe  that  there  are  two  opinions, 
which  we  shall  state,  without  attempting  to  reconcile;     We 
have  already  noticed  that  the  first  edition  has  been  sup-* 
rjppsed  to  have  been  printed  in  1470,  without  a  date;  but 
on  the  other  hand,  it  is  contended  that  the  edition  of  147 1, 
by  Valdarfer,  is  not  only  the  first  with  a  date  (which  those 
who  maintain  the  existence  of  the  edition  of  1470  are  dis- 
posed to  allow),  but  that  in  fact  there  was  no  previous 
edition.     Those  who  are  of  this  latter  opinion  very  na* 
turally  ask   their   antagonists  to   produce  the  edition   of 
1470,  or  an  edition  without  date  that  can  be  supposed  of 
that  period.     Iil  England  it  is  certain  that  no  such  edition 
is  known ;  but  the  French  bibliographers  seem  to  be  of  a 
different  opinion.     Ginguen6,  to  whom  we  are  indebted 
for  the  greater  part  of  this  life  of  Boccaccio,  who  has  writ- 
ten  the  literary  history  of    Italy,   and  is  considered   in 
France,    we  apprehend  justly,   as  their  first  critic   and 
bibliographer  in   Italian  literature ;  this  writer  speaks  of 
the  first  edition  without  a  date  in  the  following  terms; 
^^  EUe  est  sans  date  et  sans  nom  de  lieu  ni  d'imprimeur, 
in-fol.  en  caracteres  inegaux  et  mal  form6s."     (Hist.  Litt. 
*  d' Italic,  vol.  III.  p.  12d).     It  remains,  therefore,  for  the 
^  reader  to  determine  whether  this  is  the  language  of  a  man 
who  has  seen  the  book,  and  describes  what  he  has  seen; 
and  if  this  be  decided  in  the  affirmative,  the  existence  of 
the  edition  is  proved,  as  far  as  his  authority  goes.     But 
it  must  be  confessed  Ginguen6  goes  no  farther.     He  says 
nothing  of  any  library  which  possesses  this  treasure,  nor 
of  its  supposed  value ;  but  when  he  comes  to  speak  of 
Valdarfer^s  edition  of  1471,  he  informs  us  that  it  has  been 
valued  by  bibliomaniacs  (bibliomanes)  at  3000  francs,  or 
125/.     And  this  brings  us  to  notice  the  copy  of  this  edition 
recently  sold  from  the  duke  of  Roxburgh's  library,  to  the 


413  BOCCACCia 

marquis  of  Blandford,  for  the  immense  (and  with  respect 
to  the  value  of  books,  the  unprecedented)  sum  of  two 
THOUSAND  i-wo  HUNDRED  AND  si2^TY  POUNDS.  In  the  Ca- 
talogue of  this  library,  it  is  stated  that  **  no  other  perfect 
coi3y  is  yet  known  to  exist,  after  all  the  fruitless  researches 
of  more  than  three  hundred  years ;"  but,  notwithstanding^ 
this,  we  find  that  the  French  bibliographers  set  a  value  on 
the  edition,  as  if  copied^  however  rare,  were  still  occa- 
sionally to  be  found.  We  cannot  suppose  that  the  French 
booksellers  or  collectors  would  fix  a  price-current  on  an 
article  which  had  not  been  seen  for  three  hundred  years, 
still  less  that  our  authority  is  speaking  of  imperfect  copies, 
the  value  of  which  can.  only  be  estimated  by  the  qtianium 
of  imperfection.  It  remains  -also  to  be  noticed  that  the 
French  bibliographers  speak  precisely  with  the  same  fa<» 
miliarity  of  the  Junti  edition  of  Florence,  1 527,  4to,  which 
they  value  at  600  francs,  or  25L  tfnd  which  sold  at  tfae^ 
Roxburgh  sate  for  29/.  n'o  great  advance  upon  the  French 
price.  They  certainly  speak  both  of  this  editbn,  and  of 
the  1471,  as  of  rare  occnrrence,  but  by  no  means  hint' 
that  the  latter  is  of  that  i6xtreme  rarity  imputed  to  it  in 
this  country  *. 

The  third  edition,  of  Mantua,  1472,  foL  Sal viati  thinks 
the  best  of  all  the  early  editions,  the  scarcity  of  which  may 
now  be  accounted  for  by  the  following  extraordinary  fact. 
As  soon  as  they  appeared,   and  became  generally  read, 
the  monks  who  felt  that  much  of  the  satire  was  directed 
ngainst  them,   issued  their  anathemas  and   prohibitions; 
and  in   1497,  Savonarola  excited  the  abhorrence  of ^  the; 
Floreptines  to  such  a  degree,  that  they  collected  all -the : 
Decamerons,  Dantes,  and  Petrarchs  they  could  fitid,  and^ 
burnt  them  together  the  last  day  of  the  carnival.     It  is 
of  importance  to  notice  that,  of  the  edition  of  1527,  a: 
very  well  executed  counterfeit  was  printed  at  Venice  ift' 
1729,  with  the  date  of  Florence  1527  at  the  end;    The' 
next  valuable  edition  is  that  corrected  by  the  academi- 
cians of  Florence,  by  order  of  the  grand  duke,  and  with 
the  approbation  of  pope  Gregory  XIII.  and  published  at 
Florence  by  the  Junti,  1573,  4to.     Longuerue  observes 

*  At  this    memorable  wie   of  the  1587,   10/.  lOf U  Philocopo,  U16^ 

Koxborgh  library,  the  following  prices  37/.  I7x. — IlCorbaccio,  1569,  1/.  9s, — 

were   given  for  some  other  of  Boc-  DeGenealogia  Deorum,  1472,  16/.  I6x. 

«accioV  worlcs :   II  Piammetta,  1472,  Lydgate*8lhOQBochas,1558,  ld/.2f.6tf. 

81/.~-The  £i^li&h  Tnu»l«tioo«  Loud,  fcc,  he. 


il 


.  B  O  C  C  A  C  C  lO.'  41^ 

Ihat  it  ts  a  cuHdus  thing  to  see  at  the  head  of  this  edition 
a  privilege  of  Gregory  XUI.  who  says,  that  in  this  be  fol* 
lows  the  ueps  of  Pius  V.  his .  predeceasorTofltbiessed  me- 
mory, ami  whi^h  threatens  with  severe  punishments^  all 
those  who  shall  dare  to  give  any  •  disturbance  to  those 
bookseUers  to  whom  this  privilege  is  granted.  There  it 
also  a.decree  of  the  ijnquisitioi)  in  favour  of  this  edition* 
The  edition  of  Saiviati/wfaich  was  also  subfecced  to  reform^ 
Venice^  1534,  4to,  may  be  consulted  with  the  preceding 
for  the  sake  of.  the  curious  corrections  and  amendments 
introtloced  ;  and  perhaps  the.  reader  may  discover  a  great* 
difference  in  the  purity  of;  tl>e  style  between  the  original 
and  the  reformed  part.  With  respect  to  the  trahslations  of 
the  Decameron,  they  are  too  numerous,  and  in  general 
too  unimportant,  for  a  particular  detail.  Every  nation  hat 
its  Decameron,  but  as  the  purpose  of  the  translators  was 
mere  amissement,  they  seem  to  have  been  little  anxioua 
about  the  author's  reputation.  The  English  editions  par** 
ticularly  have  conveyed  his  Tales  in  a  most  vulgar  and 
ungraceful  st}'le«  They  were  6rst  translated  in  1666^  by 
William'Paynter,  jand  have  been  often  reprinted  since  in 
various  forms ;  the  best,  we  think,  was  an  edition  io  tsro 
volumes,  iLond.  lf&04,  Svo,  in  which  the  editor  has  taken 
much  pains  in  repressing  the  licentiousness  of  our  autlior, 
and  has  omitted  entirely  those  tales  which  could  not  be 
rendered  proper  for  getiesal  perusal..  In  a  critical  view, 
however,  the  work  must  be  a-llowed.tQ.be  the  productioD 
of  a  great  genios.  The  generality  of  .the  teaux  esprits  in 
Italy  agree  that  the  Decameron  is  the  best  book  in  their 
language,;  at.  least  in  pouit*  of  style.  It  is  surely  very  re- 
markable tbttt  Boccaccio  shoukl  carry  a  barbarous  language 
tu  its  perfection  ail  at  once.;  a  language  Left  entirely  to  the 
people,  and  which  had  only  a  jiiinali  part  of  its  rust  rubbed 
off  by  the  immortal  BCimle.'^ 

•  BOCCAGCUNO.  (Boccaccio),  an  artist  who  flourished 
about  14£^6,:  is  aftiong  the  Cn^uioaese,  what  Grillandajo, 
Mahtegnal.-  Vaimucci,  .Franeia^  are  in  their  respective 
schools.;  the  beat  modern  among  the  ancients,  and  the 
best  ancient  ^vmong  the  modei^ns.  He  was  the  master  of 
Garofalo  before  his  journey  to  Rome  in  1500,  The  birth 
^f  >tbe  Madonna  with  other  histories  of  her  life,  and  that  of 

1  Friue.ipaUy  from  the  Biog.  UniverseUe, — and  an  excellent  life,  by  the  samei 
author,  Cint^iiene,  in  hit  iiitiv»ir«  Litteraire  dMtahe,  v«»K  lU. 

Vol.  V.  G  Q 


456  B  O  :C  C  A  C  C  IN  O. 

the  Sttvioitr  in  Are  frieze  of  the  Dvomo  at  Cre^otn^  «H( 
works  of  Bocciatccino.  The  sQfte  is  partly  original,  partly 
approaches  that  of  Fietro  Perugmo ;  less  co-ordinate  in 
cempositiony  less  agreeable  in  the  airs  of  the  heads,  weaker 
in  t^liarbscaro;  but  richer  in  drapery,  more  raried  in  co<> 
lour^  more  sph-ited  in  attrtudet^  atid  perhaps  not  less' hafs^ 
monioiis  or  pleasing  in  landscape  and'arc^hitecture.  His 
great  defect  is  the  short  and  stumpy  appearance  wfaick  an 
immoderate  load  of  drapety  Often  gives  to  hh  figures,  it 
is  probable  that  he  was  at  Rome,  as  Yasari  pretends ;  thai 
he  there  reviled  the  vtHDi^s  of  Michael  An  gelo;  and  what 
followed,  as  rdatcfd  by  the  saflfe  historian,'  admits  of  tod 
much  doubt  to  deserve  attention^  H^  died,  according"  td 
Vasari^  in  1518,  agiid  fifty-eight-^^i^His  son,  CAfsilLfctl 
Boccaccino,  was  born  at  Cremona,  in  151!,  Wiierbhen^e^ 
ceived  the  first  instructic^s  in  the  aft  of  painting  ire^  hH 
<kther;  and  for  some  tinie  he  was  obliged  to  tonferm  him« 
aelf  to°  the  style  and  manner  of  bis  instructor.  But  he  de* 
termiited  to  quit  that  %ard  dry  manner  of  colouring,  to 
which  he  had  been  nceustbmed/  and  by  degrees  assumed 
a  sfr^e  of  colour  equally  remarkable  for  its^uaVityiriiil 
strength.  The  be«t  remai  n tn  g  specimens '  of  his  airt^  are  Iri 
the  church  of  St.  Sigi^mondo,  at  Creihona;^  where,  anforr^ 
the  Four  Evangelists,  the  figure  of  St  Johni  bent  npWai^d^ 
in  contrai9t  with  the  arched  vault,  in  boldness  of  fore- 
i^bortening  and  truth  of  perspectjre^'  emulates  the  style  of 
C6rre^gio.  He  died  very  ypungi^at  a^  time  when  theref 
was  a  great  expectation  of  his  arriving  at  very  high  pei^c* 
tioii,  in  1546.^  ' 

BOCCAGE  (Mary- Anne  le  Page,  du),  an  emineiii 
literary  lady  of  Prafice,  and  a  member  of  the  academies  of 
Rome,  Bologna,  Padua,  Lyons,  and  Rouen,  wa^  born  at 
Bouen,  Oct  22,  1710.  She  was  educated  ad  Paris  in  the 
convent  of  the  Assumption,  where  she  made  a  veify  rft|M 
progress  in  every  branch  of  education.  At  a  vety^  ^arly 
age,  «he  studied  the  English  laingnage,  that  die  might  b<s 
enabled  to  transfuse  the  beauties  of  Pope's  T^ple^Fami 
into  French  ;  but  she  concealed  her  perfofmance  for  many 
years,  nor  did  it  appear  till  1764,  in  the  coUection  of  iiar 
w6rks.  She  hiad,  faowiever,  given  aft  ample  proof  of  her 
poetieal  talents  iir  1 746,^  by  gaining  the  first  {nrize  gtfe» 
by  the  acadeiny  of  Rouen,  which  was  founded  the  year 

f  '     ' »  Pakingt(>n.-»Vaftri, 


^    :B  P  C  -CAGE.  451 

prrcodiDg  l^  the  dake  offLvYembourg.;  Thi&  prooare4 
Ber  t^e  )ioniage  aiMl  th|e  society  of  the  most  eminent  wiii 
and  scholars  pf.tb^  d^y.  From  thU  time  she  published 
nothing  without  her  i^ame.  Having  acquired  an  uocomr 
mon  relish  for.  the  >t  Paradise  Lost", of  Milton,  she  endea- 
voured to  translate  a  part  ofit  into  Frencbi  and  was  highly 
(;osiplimeBted  by  Voltj^ice.  on  her  success.  She  imitated 
also^b^t.with  much  mpffe  success. and  more  ease,  Gesner*s 
♦^  Death  of  AbeU'  in  17f9,  her  tr^edy  of  "  The  Ama- 
zons"  was  represented  op  one  of  the  Paris  stages  with  con* 
siderable  applause :  but  her  fam^  rests  principally  on  aa 
epic  poem,  entitled  /^  Tl^  Cphimbiad,  or  Discovery  of 
Amari^a^'?  in  ten  captos,  which  procured  her  the  highest 
repu tuition  at  that  time  from  the  critics  of  her  own  country, 
although  the  ej^ecution  is  very  far  from  corresponding  witll 
the  magnitude  of  the  undertaking* 

.  In  1 730,. she  set  out^on  her  travels  through  England^ 
Holland,  and  Italy,  and  published  the  result  of  them  in 
f^  Letters'^  on  her  return.  Her  personal  appearance  pro« 
cured  her  friends  and  admirers  wherever  she  went^  and 
wjbyen^  she  again  took  upher  residence  in  France,  her  house 
became  the  rendezypu^  of  the  most  distinguished  men  of 
geni^a  of-.tbd  age^all  of.  whom  she  survived.  She  indeed 
outUved  itwo  ages  of  literature,  the  latter  of  which  was 
shortened  by  the  horrors  of  revolutionary  cruelty,  from 
which  by  some  m^ans  she  was  enabled  to  escape.  Shet 
died  Auff.  1802,  at  tjhe  very  advanced  age  of  ninety-twow 
jp  ear^y. life  she.  was  B>ajrried  to  a  financier,  who  left  her  a 
very  young  and  beautiful  widow.  Her  private  character  is 
repj^e^nte^  ^'  :€|X9^.<^dinglj^  amiable,  and  her  accomplish- 
m^nti^,.  tJ|^^  onafiiners,  as  of  the  highest  order ;  but  mo** 
dfrn  flinch  critic^s^seem  not  disposed  to  allot  her  so  high 
%2$ki|K  JMSD^grthe.  votaries  of  the  muses,  as  her  contemn 
ffmri^did;  ^dr  her^  i^^rks,  it  must  be  confessed,  have 
IK>4^6^.9ofia%^y ears  2^1  my^h  request,  there  having  beea 
ga  ^Ia(9ipi^i9j^j|^.«^^  of  1770,  3  vols,  Svo.     A 

iseryi^^pdU&iWt  -traiisliLtion  of  Jbec/^  Letters  concerning 
Sogi^nd,  QglisHi^^-and.  Italy^ '  was  published  at  Londoii 
in.  that  year,  ;]^yo^sv  l~2m^«^  .. -. 

^  jJ^OCCAtlNI  '(Trajan),  a  satirical  wit,  was  born  at  Lq« 
f^^tto>in  1556,  the  son  of  an  architi^et  of  a  Roman  family, 
a^ut  the  bBginning  of  the  seventeenth  centuiy.     Th^ 

•  ... 

^  .1  fi9t'  UiMyvr-I>l<^  Hist,  in  Pu^oo^fft, 


i$t  BO  C  C  A  L  r;N  1. 

tnetbod  lie  took  to  indulge  his  tarn  for  s^txte,  or  rather  ih^ 
plot  of  his  publications,  was  the  idea  that  Apollo,  hoKiing 
his  courts  on  Parnassus,  heard  the  complaints  of  the  whole 
world,  and  gave  judgment  as  the  case  required.  He  was 
received  into  the  academies  of  Italy,  where  he  gained 
great  applause  by  his  political  discourses,  and  his  elegant 
criticisms.  The  cardinals  Borghese  and  Cajetan  havings 
declared  themselves  his  patrons,  he  published  his  ^^  News 
from  Parnassus,'*  and  '*  Apollo's  Secretary,"  a  continua- 
tion ;  which  being  well  received,  he  proceeded  further^ 
aqd  printed  his  '*  Pietra  di  Paragoue;"  wherein  he  attacks 
the  court  of  Spain,  settling  forth  their  designs  against  the* 
liberty  of  Italy,  and  inveighing  particularly  against  thein 
for  the  tyranny  they  exercised  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples. 
The  Spaniards  complained  of  him  in  form,  i*ad  were  de- 
termined at  any  rate  to  be  revenged.  Boccalini  was> 
frightened,  and  retix^d  to  Venice.  Some  time  after  he 
was  murdered  in  a  surprising  manner.  He  lodged  with 
one  of  his  friendsj  who  having  got  up  early  one  morning, 
left  Boccalini  in  bed;  when  a  minute  after  foiir  armed  men 
entered  bis  chamber,  and.  gave  him  so  manjr  blows  with 
bags  full  of  sand  that  they  T<^ft  him  for  dead  ;  so  that  his 
friend,  upon  his  return,  found  him  unable  to  ^tter  on^ 
word.  Great  search  was  made  at  Venice  for  the  author^ 
of  this  murder;  and  though  they  were  ne^'er  discovered, 
yet  it  was  i^niversally  believed  that  .they  wer^e  set  to  work 
Jby  the  court  of  Spain.  This  story,  however,  has  been 
called  in  question  by  Mazzuchelli,  and  seems  iudeeil 
highly  iinprob9.ble  ;'.at  lea^  it  ciail  by  no  oieaos  stand  upon 
its  present  foundation.  His  attacking  the  court  of  J^paiti 
in  his  *'  Pietra  .di  Paragone,"  is  paid  to  have  been  the 
cause  of  his  murder ;  but  another  cause,  if  he  really  was 
murdered,  must  be  sought,  for  hq  died,  by  whatever  mean% 
Nov.  16,  1613,  and  the  "Pietra"  was  not  publishied  unfjl 
two  years  after  that  event.  It  appears  likewise  from  one 
of  his  letters,  that  he  had  kept  the  manuscript  a  profound 
secret,  communicating  it  only  to  one  confidential,  friend,  to 
whom,  th^  above  letter  was  written.  Besides,  the  register 
of  the  parish  in  which  he  died,  mentions  that  pn  Nov.  16^ 
1()  1 3,  the  signor  Trajan,  Boccalini  died  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
sev^n,  of  a  cholic  aocopipanied  with  a  fever.  Apostolo 
Zeno,  who  m,^tions  iliis  circuinstance  in  his  notes  on  Foa* 
tanini's  '*^^  Italian  Library,"  adds,  that  in  a  speech  publicly 
delivered  at  Veoic<!in  1620,  in  defence  of  Tfissino,  whpoi 


fe  O'O  C  A  L  I  "n"I.  455 

Bbccalihi  had  attacked,  ample  mention  is  made  of  him, 
who  Had  then  been  dead  seven  years,  and  in  terms  of  se- 
vere censure ;  but  not  a  word  was  said  of  his  assassination. 
Which  could  not  have  then  been  a  secret,  nor  could  there 
be  any  reason  for  concealing  it.  If  indeed  he  suffered  iii 
tlie  manner  reported,  it  formed  an  exact  counterpart  of 
^  hat*  he  records  to  have  happened  to  Euclid  th©  mathema- 
tician. Euclid  had  demonstrated,  as  -Jl  mathematical  prb- 
lilem,  that  ail  the  lines  bbth  of  princes'  and  private  men's 
tlloughts  meet  in  one  centre ;  namely,  to  pick  money  out 
of  other  men's  pockets  and  put  it  into  their  own;  and  for 
this  he 'was  attacked  by  some  of  his  hearers  who  beat  him 
with  sand-bags  :  and  perhaps,  as  a  foundation  for  the  story, 
some  of  Focc^liAfs  readers  may  have  said  that  he  ought  to 
have  been  punished  in  the  same  manner.  Boccalini's  works 
Jtre  :  i,  *•  RaggiiagU  di  Parnaso,  centuria  prima,"  Venice, 
i6!2,  4to.  "Centuria  sec'unda,"  ibid.  1613,  4to,  nei- 
ther published  long  enough  before  his  death  to  have  ex- 
cited much  general  odium.  These  two  partis  were  after- 
wards frequently  reprinted  in  one  vorume.  There  is  un- 
questionably in  this  work,  much  to  make  it  popular,  and 
much  to/  excite  hostility.  His  notions  on  government, 
Kberty,  &e.' were  too  free  for  his  age  and  country;  and 
his  treatment  of  literary  characters  is  frequently  captious 
and  unjust,  yet  the  work  upbri  the  whole  is  amusing,  and 
original  in  its  plan.  A  third  part  was  published  by  Jerome 
j&riani,  of  ^lodena,  at  Venice,  1650,  Svb,  and  the'vvhold 
was  translated  and  published  in  English,  under  the  inspec- 
tion of  Hughes  the  poet,  1705,  fdl.  '2.  "  Pietra  del  Para- 
gone  politico,"  Cosmopoli  (Amsterdam),  1615, 4to,  and  often 
reprinted  in  various  sizes;  that  of  Amsterdam,  1653,  24mo, 
is  reckoned  the  best.  It  has  been  translated  into  latin, 
J'rench^  and  English,  first  in  1626,  4to,  and  afterwards  in 
Hughes's  edition;  and  into  German.  This  "political 
touchstone"  bears  hard  on  the  Spanish  monarchy,  and  may 
be  considered  as  a  supplement  to  his  ^*  News  from  Par- 
nassus.'* 3;  *'  Commentari  sopite  Cornelio  Tacito,"  Geneva, 
1  i569, 4to,  Cosmbpoli  (Amsterdam),  \  677, 4to, and afteinvards 
in  a  collection  published  u'n<ler' the  title  *^  La  Bilancia  poli- 
tica  di  tutte  le  o'pere  di  Trajano  Bocculini,"  &.c.  with  notes 
and  obsei*vatiohs  by  the  chevalier  Louis  du  May,  at  Cas- 
tellana,  1678,  t  vols.  4to.  The  first  two  vol uu)t;s  of  this 
scarce  work  contain  the  Tacitus,  on  which  the  animiatpr, 
pot  contell;  with  being  very  free  in  hi»  religious  opinion^, 


f 54  .  B  O  C  C  A  LIN  li 

takes  some  extraordinary  liberties  with  th6  te^,  knd^iiiflp^ 
fore  they  were  soon  inserted  in  the  Index  Expurgatojiu^r^ 
They  contain,  however/ many  curioos  facts  wbiehtehd^d^ 
illustrate  the  political  afiairs  of  the  time.  The  third  vohini^ 
is  filled  with  politicat  and  historical  letters,  collected  %y 
Gregorio  Leti ;  but  although  these  are  signed  with  Bocca^ 
lini's  name,  they  are  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  his 
son,  and  by  the  editor  Leti^  a^'^ah  notTery  scrupulous  ia 
impositions  of  this  kind.  6.  **  La  Segretaria  d' Apollo,** 
Amst.  1653,  ^4iho,  a  sort  of  continuation  of  the  ^^  Rag-i' 
guagli/*  very  much  in  IB^ccalitli*^  manner,  but  most  pro* 
bably  we  owe  it  to  the  success  of  his  acknow^ledged  works;' 

B0CCHE6.I^I  (Lewis),  an  eminent  musical  corapost^^ 
was  both  at  Lucca,  Jan.  14,  lt40,  wliere  he  resided  till 
1768,  when  he  went  to  Paris,  arid  i^i^re  lie  continued  tffl 
1780.  He  then  removed  to  Madrid;^  wiiiere  he  didd'  iii 
tB06.  t)is  instrument  was  thd  violoncfelfo,  and  he  ha^ 
perhaps  supplied  the  performers  on  bdw^-instrUih^hts  and 
{ovists  of  music  with  more  e^c^llent  ecmipositions  than  imy 
master  bf  the  presefnt  ^ge,'  exc|^pt  Kayd^.  ^  His  ^le  is  at 
once  bold,  masterly,  and  e^t^^t!^-  'THiW  iare  mov^iiientft 
in  his  works,  of  every  style,'  and'irt  thibtrule  |;etiHfs  't^'tHci 
instruments  for  which  he  writes,  tH4t'|i)ke&hlm'higKfnr 
rai]|^  among  the  greatest  masters  ^o  have  ^«i^{vrktieji^fo]^ 
the  violin  of  violoncello.  There  is  perhaps  luoinstruimhiai 
inusic  more  ing^ious, ,  elegaht^^  ^mfd  '  pleasSug,  Untn  hfii 
quintets  ^  in  wmch  invetiti6ii,;gfrac^,  wodulatfon,  and  g66d 
t^steji  conspire  to  tender  tbekn,  when  welt  executed;  ^a 
treat  for  the  mb^t  refined  h<^arers  and  critical  j^dges^of 
musical  icomtposition. "  The  works  of  tfais^'  c^^lleht  t6mi 
poser  would  be  of  pse  to  judicious  c^llectpts^'^  as  h&"^\l 
nius,  taste,  and,  judgment  were' too  fertfle  and  refined,  W 
suffer  him  to  cotnnltt  to  paper  fiivbious  or  indigi^ti^ 
thoughts.  His  pro4uct:ions  of  forty  years  ago  hjtve^'ltfst 
nothing  of  their  worth,  nor  will  forty  years 'niog^et^li^B# 
deprive  them  of  their  blbbmu  They  todsist  of  €%c[di^^ 
edilectiohs^ of  symphonies,  quintets^  Ztc.N^Inthe'fi^igii^ 
cast  he  has  only  one  piece,  a  '*  Stabat  mater.^  •  ^  ^    '    - ' 

BD<^OHI  (AcHiLtBsy,  an  eminent  itsSiah  sdh^^if  Mit 
boro  at  Bologna  in  148^,  of  a  noble  fkmily.' ^  In  his^st^diei 
he  ttulde  uncommon '  proficiency,  and  had  dii^nguisbeil 

*  Biof .  tFniir^kA-EiT^biyei  ?iDaQDdieai.-«'G«ii.  Diet— -Bio|^.  9rit,4rt,llQelMf| 
•^Bloont's  Censura.— Baillet  Jug^emenB. — Saxii  Onomast 

•  Biof .  ViiiverieUe.-^I>r.  JBumey  in  Rees*s  Cyclopedia*  j^ 


B  O  e  C,H  t^  #5i 

^mtiS'  at  4ie  iearly-  «gec  4>f .  twenty  .by.lii9,.Tery.  learned 

yfotk  on  PUutus.     Accoriling  to  the  custom  of  the  age,  be 

f^ttacbed  himself  to  vi|rious  princes,  but  at  firsyt  to  the  ce* 

^brated  Albert  Pio,  count  of  Carpi.     Having  .become  iai*» 

perial  orator  at  tbe  oourt  x>f  Rome,'  he  obtained  by  big 

ialeuts  and  knowledge  of  b^siuessi  tbe  titles  of  cbevaliet 

f^nd  count  Palatine^  and  was  intrusted  with  some  important 

functions,  sucb  as  that  pf  besto>xiitg  tbe  degree  of  doctor^ 

of  oreating  notaries^  zjx^  even  Ic^gitimizing  natural  cbilt 

dr^o*  ~  At  BplogD^  be.  was  professor  of  Greek  and  Latin» 

rhetoric  and  poetry^  and  was  chosen  one  of  the  Auziani  in 

1522«     Having  acquired  a  handsome  fortune,  he  built  a 

pajLftCier  and.in  1^46  ibpQd^dan  academy  in  it,  named  from 

maas^lf  Academia,  Boccbiana,  or  Boccbiale«    It  was  also 

called  Ermateua,  agK^eeable  to  u»  device,  on  wb^cb  hm 

flPSPiAven.  tbe  tinQ  ^urea  of  Mercury  and  Minerva.     H% 

also  established  a-  prkitingroffice  in  bis  bouse,  and  ho:  and 

A^  academicians  employed  themselves,  in  correcting , tbe 

many .  beautiful  editiqua  which  they  printed*    Boccbi  was 

a  gcpd. Hebrew  scMar^  apd  well  versed,  in  ant;iquities  ^4 

bistor^f  particjwburj^  >^  Qt  b^  o|^  country^    The  senatqt 

fif :  39Jq(gi^  emp^yed  him  on  writing  the  history  of  that 

fitj^.^aed  beslo|Wf|d  on  him  the  titje  of  Historiographer; 

C<ar4iD^  Sadol^t,  1;be  two  Flaminio*s,  John  Phil.  Acbillini^ 

fAd  Lei-  Greg.  Ciraldi,  were  among  bis  particular  friends^ 

who  have  all  spoken  v^cy  favourat^Iy  of  him  in  their  works* 

This  last:  was  w^  attof^ed  te.bim,  and  it  is  sqpposed 

>hat  be  meant  to  express  ,tbis  attjeicbm^nt  by  giving  him 

jhe  baoie  of  Pbilero«  (loving,  friefx4)t  <  oiT  Pbilerote,  which 

ii|.,pii  ibe  title  of  some  of  bis  works.    Bopcbi  died  at  Bo* 

Icfgpa,  Nov,  6,  V5^2^  He  wrote,  K  **  Apologia  in  Plautum, 

fvi  acaedit  vita  Ciceronis  authore  Plotarcbo,**  Bologn* 

lA^f  f  ta     2.  **  Carmina  in  laudem  Jo.  Bapt  Pii,*'  ibid* 

|i^9>  4to,     3.  .^^  Symboi|carum  qusestionum  de  universo 

geui^^,.  quas  serio  iudebat,  libri  V.  Bononiss,  in  sedibus 

^Opqb^nsB,^*  155.5,  4to,.  reprinted  at  Bologna,  1574,  4to« 

Xbi^^^ork  is  highly  valued  on  account  of  tbe  emblems, 

which  are  almost  all  the  invention  of  Boccbi,  and  were 

engraved  for  tbe  first  editioa  by  Julio  Boriasoni,  and  re« 

touched  for  the  second  by  Agostino  Caraccbi.     Besides 

^eise,  many  of  bis  Latin  poems  are  in  Gruter's  **  Deliciaa 

poetarum  Latinorum,'*  and  others  are  yet  in  MSS.     His 

hrttoiy  of  Bologna  is  also  in  MS.  in  the  library  of  the 


456  B  o  e  c  ja  f . 

iiistUute  of  Boiognt,  and  there  i$  a;  copy  in  the 
imperial  library.  *  •   ^ 

•  BOCCHI  (FRANGl8)jf  or>e  of  the  inf06tvoluKiit>bu«"fm*era 
of  Florence,  was  born  in  that  city  in  i^4S.  Ubed^cation 
was  superintended  by-  l^is  patemsll  unele,  under  wbose  care 
be  made  great  progress  in  learning,  and  acquired  •  the 
esteem  of  Laurence  Saiviati,  the  Maecenas  of  his  age.  He 
died  at  Florence  m  1618,  leavihg  a  great  many  works*  in 
Latin  and  Tuscan,  aq;iong  wbich  'are  *^  Elogia  virtmim 
Fiorentinorum,''  1604,  1607,  4to,  and  other  biographical, 
historical,  and  literary  works,  of  which  a  list  may  be  deen 
in  our  authority. *  •:     .      •-  »  -    » 

.  BOCCIARD1(Cl£Ment£),  called  CLEMRKroNE  fncMii'tbe 
^iast  size  of  bis  figure,  a  distinguished  history  and  portrait 
painter,  was  born  at  Genoa  in  1620^  and  was  the  disciple 
of'  Bernardo  Strozzi,  an  artist  of  good  reptJtation ;  bot  he 
found  in  himself  so  strong  an  aenbitioti<i^'adrripve  at^^OKeeU 
lence  in  his  profession,  that  ho  left  Genoa^-  and  wont- to 
Home. and  Florence,  where  he  became  femilito  with  6as« 
iigUone,  there  to  exploi*e  that  true  subtimity  of  stjde^  which 
can  only  be. obtained  by  «  judieious  observatiw  of  uhe 
ancient  sculptures  and  the  works  of  ttie  eelebrated  modern 
artist;s.  By  the  guidance  of  an  excetlent  genius,,  and  iilso 
by  a  most  industrious  application  to  design,  Jbe  discOiv«red 
(he  art  of  uniting  and  blending  the  antique  and  modern 
gusto  in  a  style  that  at  once  exhibited  both  gracefuUess 
and  strength.  His  £tyle  is  more  c^ort^ect  and  more  ideal 
than  that  of  his  master,  though  inferior  in  truth  of  colour. 
Most  of  the ,  works  of  this  ipaster  (lexcept  his  portraits, 
which  were  lively,  natural,  and  graeeful.)  arevin^ftbe  chapels 
of  Genoa,  Pisa/  and  other  <ities  of  Italy,  but  particularly 
in  pisa,  wherei  is  the  best  of  his  workd,  a  St.  Sebastian  in 
the  Certosa.^ 

BOCCONE  (Paolo,  ,or  Paul),  an  ingenious  naturalist, 
was  born  at  Palermo,  in  Sicily,  Af>rtl  24tb  1633,  of  a 
wealthy  and  respectable  family,  originally  from  Savona  in 
Genoa.  To  improye  hiipself  in  natural  history,  pui'dcu* 
larly  in  botany,  to  which  ^e  was  early  attached,  he  tra-f 
veiled  over  Sicily,  Corsica,.  Maka,<  many  parts  of  Ger« 
many,  Holland,  and  England,  eonversing  with  the  most 
eininent  literary  characters  in  the  places  he  visited,  witlf 

.  f  Brag.  Univeraelle.-rSaxii  Onomaft.     .  ?  Bioflr«  UnivftrselJe, 

Pitkipi^ioQ.  '  \     • 


B  O  G  C  O  ^  E.  til 

vAoin  he  aft6rwflr(fe  kept'up  a  correspondence.  '  At  Paris 
be  foecEi&e  acquainted  with  the  abb6  Bourdaiot,  to  whom 
'  he  vommvinioaied  varidCiB  obsrefvations  he  had  made>  which 
stere  poWished  at  Amsterdam' in  1674  under  the  title  ^^  Re« 
cfaetfchcB  et  obser^atiorks  d^Histoire  Naturelle;^'  In  the 
coavse  of.  his  travels,  he  \Kras  admitted  doctor  in  medicine 
at  Padua,  was  'Elected  member  of  the  Aicadem.  Naturae 
Gxim&.  and:  made  botanist  to  the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany^ 
inJi6flK2vhe  entei^d  among  the  Cist ertian  monks  at  Flci^ 
yenoe^.and'wit4i  the  hai»it  of  the  otdertook  the  name  of 
^yK'io9< which  be  affixed  to  his  latter  works,  but  he  was 
still  permitted  to  continue  his  researches  in  natural  history* 
fiel»rning.  at  .length  to  Sicily,  be  retired  to  one  of  the 
ltD(9ses!>ot'  the iCis^tertians  near  Palermo,  where  he  died, 
X)ec«  22,  1704.  As  he  had  been  indefatigable  in  his  re- 
searches^ his  •collection  of  plants  and  other  natural  produc- 
lions  was  very  considerable.  -Sherrard,  who  saw  his  hortus 
siecus^  or  specimens  of  dried  plants',  in  1697,  was  so  struck 
with  their  number  and  beauty,  that  be  engaged  hitn  to 

•  give- a  catalogue  of  them  to  the  public,  which  he  did  ia 
his."  Musa^o  plante  rare^'?  puWished  at  Venice  in  4to,  the 
same- year^     The  cftitalogue  was  also  published  by  itself; 

.  ^ever^i  of  his  works  appear  to-  have  been  printed  while  he 
.  iiraai'osi  his  travels;  the  first  of  them,  *^  De  abrouno  mare 
<inonitum,^'  in  1668  ;  and  in  the  same  year,  ^'  Manife&tunt 
botanictun,  de  plantis  Siculis,"  Catanse,  4to.  Byan'ad* 
vectisMnent  at  the  beginning  of  the  work  he  offers  to  bota- 
nists the  seeds  of  many  of  the  curious  and  rare  plams  he  had 
coU^Qted,  at  moderate  prices.  Monson  published  an  edt* 
ikm  altivis  work  at  Oxford  in  1674,  4to,  under  the  title  of 
.  :^f  ieoiies  et  descsiptione^  rairiaram  plantarum  Sicilian,  Me- 
litas,  Gallic,  ettltaliaa.**  Many^  of  the  plants,  H  siller  say  t;, 
were  new.  The  figures  are  small,  and  in  general  not  well 
idelfneated  otr  engmved.  •  His  next  production' was  f*  Re- 
chercbes  et  observations  natur^Ues,**  published  at  Paris  in 
A67i,  12mo,  again  at  Amsterdam  in  1674,  and  a;>ain  in 
1744,.  in  8cvOk  It  oonsists  of  letters  to  his  correspondents 
in^France,  Ital^^^  Englind,  fcc.  In  i684j  in  l6mo,  *<  Oper- 
vEiziont  naturiiti  ove'si  cbntengono  materia  medico  fisiche 
9  di  botapieo,'*  Botogna.  The  observations  are  twenty  in 
number,  and  dedicated,  or  addressed  to  so  many  of  the 
author's  friends  and  patrons,  among  whom  are  many  per- 

•  jjons  of  high  rank.     He  is  verj^  profuse  in  his  ebgia  on  the 


4«  B  O  C  C  O  N  E 

medical  virtue  of  many  of  tbe  plants  whieb  hr pttfaei^  Av 

beyond  their  real  value.     *^  Teuere  oportet,"  Hailer  ^ys| 

f'  credulum  esse  viruni  et  in  viribtis  medtcis  plantarum  li- 

beralem.'*     **  Musaso  di  ftsica  e  di  espetienze  deeovato  di 

opervazioni  naturali/'  Venet.lS91,  4to«    Tfaeaulhortils^ 

assumes  tbe  name  of  Syliio.    The  obsefrations  are,  as-*  in 

the  former  work,  dedicated  to  his  noble  patfons,  and  coa^ 

tain  ample  accounts  of  tbe  medioal  virtues,  of  varioua 

plants,  much  beyond  what,  from,  experience,  tbe3r  have 

been  found  to  possess.     Some  smaller  dissertations  weM 

printed  in  Miscel.  NatursB  Curios,  and  in  .the  J<»iraald«a 

Savans.     On  the  whole,  -Boccone'appearS'to  hate,  been:  aii 

industrious  and  intelligent  wHter,  possessing:  cansiderablti 

originality,  and  deserves  to  be  classed  amfiiig  botamsta^'of 

the  third  rate. '  .    .  .  J 

BOCH  (John),  or  BOCHIUS,  a  Latin  poft,  was  hotm 

at  Brussels  July  27,  1555,  and  became  so^eminent'for-^hii 

poetry,   as  to    be  called  the  Belgic  Virgil. .  HmB^Bit^ 

tached  himself  to  cardinal  Radzevil,  he  studied  theology^ 

for  some  tiitie,  under  the  txiition  of  BellaJmin,  afteriv«rd# 

the  celebrated  cardinal.      He  then  -  travjelled  in~  Italy,  ^oU 

land,  Livonia,  Russia,  and  other  cauntries..  The  onlyme^ 

morable  event  that  his  biographers  have  recorded  c€>  thesid 

travels,  is,  that  in  his  way  to  Moscow  his  feet  were  finosen^ 

and  he  was  thinking  of  submitting  to  amputation,  when  tte 

place  where  he  stopped  happening  to  be  surprized  by  thtf 

enemy,  be  recovered  his  feet  in  a  most  »arprising  mamoieiy 

and  escaped  the  danger  of  losing  mther  them  or  his  Ubertyt 

On  bis  return  home,  be  devoted  his  lime  to'fais.:Jaltei'af>f 

pursuits^  especially  poetry,  J  and  died  Jan..!"},  l60Sr/'  Urn 

.   has  left  the  following  pieces :  1.  '*  De  Belgiiprimapatn.** 

9»  *^  Parodiaheroica  PBahnonim  Davidieonm.-*   3:  ^*iOb^ 

jtervationes  physicse,  ethicae,  politicsev  et  historicse,  in  Psal^ 

mos.*^    4.  "Vita  Dsvidis.'^     5.  "  Oratiooes."    €^  *^Po« 

^mata,  &c.*'  these  poetical  pieces,  consisting  of  efngcaM^' 

elegies^  &c.  were  collected  and  printed  at  Colbgnev^w 

l€lSf  with  the  addition  of  some  poems  ^  by  his  •on^  mff0^ 

mising  youth,  who  died  in  Calabria.   It  must  notbeonmied' 

that  Bcxih  wrote  the  verses  under  the  cuts  of  V-erstegan%* 

absurd  book  against  qoeen  Elizabeth,  enticed  *^  TkeMr1ldi^ 

.       .    '     .'  ' '  •    •  .      . 

1  BiofT.  Univ.— Rees's  Cf clopedia.  ^-Pultenef '•  Sketcbm,  sit.  Morisoii.<«^ 
Kkeron. — Saxii  OaomMtioodB. 


/^ 


-    B  O  C  H.     I  ♦«% 

^rtideUfealsQm.Hereticorum  nostri  teoiporUy*'  a  sortof  popUb 
mmrtyfology  •  * 

BOCHART  (Sakuel),  a  learned  French  Protestant, 
bora  at.  Bmh  in  Korfoandyt  1599,  His  father  was  a  Pro^ 
imttat  cleigyitian,  and  his  mother  a  sister  of  the  cele^ 
brated  Petec  du  Moulin*  He  made  a  very  early  progress 
ia  learning,  particularly  in  the  Greek  language,  of  which 
we.  have  a  proof  in  the  verses  he  composed  at  the  age.  of 
§CHirteen,  in -praise  of  Thomas  Dempster,  under  whom  ho 
studied. at  Pans,  and  who  has  prefixed  them  to  bis  Roman 
Antiqiiitiea.  He  went  through  a  course  of  philospphy  at 
Sedan, 'and  studied  divinity  at  Saumur,  under  Camero- 
nids,  whom  be.  followed  to  London^  the  academy  at  S^u- 
tour 'being  dispersed  duriug  the  civil  wan  He  went  also  to 
Oxford,  and  in  Lent  term,  1622,  was  entered  as  a  student 
at.  .the  library, .  where  he  laid  in  a  considerable  part  of  that 
Stock  of  Oriental  learning  which  he  afterwards  displayed 
id  his  works.  He  afterwards  went  over  to  Leyden,  and 
studied  Arabic  under  £rpenius«  When  returned  to  France, 
Ve  was  chosen  miimter  of  Caen,  where,  in  1630,  he  dis-r 
ting^uisbed  himself  by  public' disputations  with:father  Veroo,^ 
a.very  fi»mQus  polemic,  and  champion  for  the  Roman  catho^ 
lie  religion,  published  under  the  title  of  ^^  Acte  de  la  con^ 
Cerence  entre  S.  B.  et  Jean  Baillebache,  &c.  d'un  pact : 
«it  Fiangoift  Yeron,  predicateur  de  controverses,**  Saumur,: 
9  vols.  8va  The  dispute  was  held  in  the  castle  of  Gaen, 
ip  presence  of  a  gieat  number  of  Catholics  and  P^otestaxHs. 
Bocbart  came  oS  with  honour  and  reputation,  which  was 
ifofc  a  little  increased  upon  the  publication  of  his)  Phaleg^ 
•nd  Canaan,  which  aretbe  titles  of  the  two  parts  of  hiir 
**  Geograpbica  Sacra,''  1646/  While,  at  Caen^  he  was 
tttttar  to  WenfcwintbiiEdlliou,  lead  of  Roscommon^  ^authoc 
ofjtHe  ^^  Essay  en^  Translated,  verse/'  .He  acquired  alscK 
goftt  fame  by.his»''IIierozoicon,  printed  at  London,  1675.. 
7^ile^gteat  learniAig.displayed  in  these  works  retidered  faimt 
^e^Mfd^  uot-onlyamoingst  those  of  his  own  persuasion,* 
b^  fmongtt  all  lovofs.  of  -kuo  wledge  o£  wimieverdenomiw 
i^aticmy  especialljDaucb  as  studied  the  scriptures  in  thein 
original. languages^  Awbich  was  then  very  common.  .  Dn' 
BakewelU  who  liBSL  contemporary  with  Bochart,  speak**. 
ing  of  the  knowledge  of  the  oriental  languages,  observes, 

•--  ;.     .       •        :.••.■•■■.-  ..■•■. 

1  Biog.  Unir. — Foppen  Bibl.  Belg. — Biog.  Brit  ftrt.  Ventcgaa.— Saxii  Ono*'. 
mattiooa.  . 


4«d  B  O  C  HA  R  r. 

that  **thU  lask  century^  (tbe  fifteenth)  afforded  tnbre  sWit^ 
ful  men  that  way  than  the  other  fourteen  since  Christ.*' 
In  165^,  the  queen  of  Sweden  invited  him  to  Stockholm^ 
mhere  she  gave  him  many  proofs  of  her  regard  and  esteem; 
At  his  return  into  France,  in  1653,  he  continued  his  or- 
dinary exercises,  and  was  one  of  the  members  of  the  aca- 
demy of  Caen,  which  consisted  of  all  the  learned  men  or 
tTiat  placie.  He  died  suddenly,  when  he  was  speaking  in 
this  academy.  May  6,  1667,  which  gave  M.  Brieux  occa* 
rion  to  make  the  following  epitaph  on  him  : 

"  Scilicet  ha^c  cuique  est  data  sors  aequissimaj  'taU» 

Ut  sit  mors,  qualis  vita  peracta  fuit. 
Mu^anim  in  gremid  teneris  qui  vixlt  ab  annis> 

Mnsanim  in  gpemio'defafuit  iste  mori;* 

Besides  trhat  we  have  mentioned,  he  wfote  a  treatise  on 
the  terrestrial  paradise,  on  the  plants  and  precious  stones 
Mentioned  in  scripture,  and  some  other  pieces,  but  h(^ 
left  these  unfinished.  He  left  also  a  great  number  of  ser- 
mons. A*^  many  of  hi^  dissertations  as  could  be  collected 
were  published  in  the  edition  erf  his  works  printed  in  Hoi- 
Und,  1712,  3  vols,  folio.  The  "Hierozoicoh,  seu  H(s- 
toria  animalium  8.  Scripturife,**  was  reprinted  at  Leipsic^ 
by  Rosenmuller,  with  notes  and  additions,  '  1793 — '6, 
3  vols.  4to.  Bochart,  in  oriental  literature  wasbne  of  the-, 
first  men  of  his  time  ;  but,  like  many  who  have  studied  thd 
Hebrew  with  great  zeal,  hefell  irtto  a  sort  of  thebry,  whicEi 
made  him  in  many  cases '  more  attentive  to  words*  thani 
things.^  His*  Sacred  Geography  is  a  stupendous  under- 
taking, but  it  was  impossible  he  could*  bring  it  to  perfec- 
tion at  a  time  when  we  knew  comparatively  very  little  of 
tnoAem  Asia,  and  had  few  good  books  of  travels.  He  is 
aUo  accused,  and  not  unjustly,  of  indulging  too  freely  iix 
etymologies  of  proper  names,  taken  from"  the  Hebrew,  and 
of  thanging  geographical  questions,  which  are  entirely  p^ 
an  historical  nature,  into  etymolbgical  ones.  These,  and^ 
sonae  other  detects  in  Bocbart^s  writings,  have  occasioiied 
ibrhe  persons  to  look  on  him  with  contempt,  and  distrust 
the  ^hole  of  his  learned  work;  whereas,  he  has  treated 
itaanyquestions  with  profound  sagacity,  and  even  his  errors 
are  in«tructive.  The  only  thing  wai^ting  to  render  hii 
work  extensively  useful,  and  to  throw  alt  the  light  lipoii 
thie  foreign  geography  bf  the  Hebrews  which  the  nature  of 
the  subject  can  admit  of,  was  a  proper  supplement,  v^hitjlh 
should  hll  up  his  omissions,  and  correct  bis  mistakes  ^  and 


B-O^Q  If;A  Br  T4  *«l 

t^s  was,iip^*t^en  by.  th^  is^cibr^teci..  Michael'iSf  from 
>vhoDi..  .w/^  bfive  abrjdg^d  the  above .  septiaieins  oa  the 
jneritsuof  Bocbc^rt,  ^pd  lybo^Ja  1.16^^.  published  tbe  first 
part  p]f  what  he  iDodes^ly  t^iq^d  a.  gleaning  after  Bocbart, 
^'  ^prcilegiuoi  Geograpbi^  ^ebra^oruqn  exterce  post  Bor 
chartum,"  completed  in  elevpn  parts^  Gottingpn,  1780^ 
4tp. ' 

BOCHAIIT  DE  SARON  (John  Baptist  Gaspard),  % 
liberal  patron  of  learning,  ^nd  fir^t  president  of  the  p^r-? 
liameut  of  iParls,  was  bcxrn^  in  that  n^e^rgpoHs/Jaii,  16» 
173Q,  of  a  family,  the  branches  of  which  bad  ^lled  many 
distinguished  oiiices  in  the  .magistracy,  and  to  which  the 
subject  of  t|ie  prj^cecUng  articjp.  apgears  f;o  have, been  re-* 
lated.  From  his  infancy,  Mans.  Saron  w^s  attached  to 
mathematical  studies,  and  particulaxlv  to  calculations,  the 
most  complicated  of  vybicb.be  perfort;ned  with  astonishing 
facility ;  and  many  eminent  astrpnorpers,  who  were  hif 
friends,  made  no  scruple  to  .apply  .to  him  for  assistance  of 
this  kind,  which  be  contributed  .,witb  the  greatjest  polite.^ 
ness  ;  and. as  very  much  depei,ids.  qm  intricate  c&lculatipnSf 
be^  may  justly  be  allowed  to  sfiare  with  tbem  in  tbe  honour 
of  tlieir  discoveries.  He  wa^,  bovyever,  among,  the  fii;s( 
^ho  discovered  that  HerschelTs  new  star  was  a  new  planet* 

'*  '4..  ^ 

iind  not  a  comet,  as  most  of  the  B'rencb  astronomers 
thought.  In  17  79  he  was.electpd  into  ,t  be  ^academy  of 
Sciences,  and  coptributed  tP.  the  promotion  of  tb^ir  Ur 
boprs,  not  only  ^y  hij  p.rlvate  studies,  which  werp, indeed 
rather  those  of  an  amateur;  than  of  a  scholar  by  profes-i 
slob,  but  also  by.  bis  fortune.  He  ,made,  af  a  vast  jex-? 
pence^.^a  collection  of  tjie .fijiiest  astronomical  i^istrumenU 
of  air^inds,.  which. bo  .v^ry;  willipgly  lent  tc^  those  who 
wished  tquif^ke. use  of  t)iep,c*ajad  never. had  rao re  pleftsur^ 
(ban  wber^  h)e  faufjlec^  b^^^^fts  thus  supplying,  tb.e.wants  o^ 
men  of  genius.  It  was  ai^o  by  his  UberAlity^tbal;,  Laplace, 
vas  enable^d  to  publi^h^liis  **  i'heorie  du.mouyement  ellip* 
tique  et  de  la  figure  de,  terre,*'  1784,  4to.  jbfi  expence.o^ 
whichbe,' defrayed.  I^is. whole  liie^  indeed,  exhibited  a 
perfect  model  ^of  a..p^a][^on  of  learnipg.and  learned  Qieiv 
^nd  demonstrated,  bow  ^^asily  pen  of  rank  and  fortune  nuy^ 
exalt  tbeir  characters^ by  toe  encouragement  pf  genias^. 
Yet  this  man  was  doomed  to  destruction  b}\the  monsters 
who  ruled  in  France  during  tbe  revolutionary  period,  aQd 


yOtu.  Diet— PernuU  Hommei  iniittres-*-Wbod*8  Ath.  fol.   L-^Moatk. 
tlisr.  wolf  XLI.^^Wtiiat'8  Ctasura.-^i^szii  UaMMutioon. 


4<l  B  O  C  It  A  R  f  ;    . 

who  ordered  him,  and  some  other  members  of  the  oM  psfi 
liament  of  PariSi  to  be  guiliotinedy  a  sentence  which  wfi« 
executed  April  20,  1794.  M.  Monjoie  published  in  1809 
r*^  L'eloge  de  Saron/'  Svo,  and  Cassini  paid  him  a  sindlar 
Gomplimenty  which,  however,  was  not  printed*  ^ 
.    BOCHIUS.     SeeBOCH.  "  ^ 

BOCK  (Frederic  Samuel),  professor  of  divinity  and 
Greek  in  the  university  of  Konigsberg,  was  bom  in  that 
city.  May  20,  1716,  and  died  in  1786.  Among  his  nu^ 
merous  works  on  theology,  education,  and  natural  his- 
tory, which  are  much  esteemed  in  his  own  country,  we 
may  enumerate,  !•  ^<  Specimen  theologiss  natnralis,"  "Zul- 
lichau,  1743,  4to.  2.  '^  Historia  Socinianismi  Pmssic/^ 
Konigsberg,  1753,  4to.  3.  Historia  Anti-TrinitariorumiAax- 
ime  Socinianismi  et  Socinianorum,*'  1774-— 1784,  2*i;^Isl' 
8vo.  4.  <^  A  manual  of  Education,*'  1780,  8vb^  in  Germam' 
B.  <^  Essay  on  the  natural  history  of  east  and  west  Prussfa,'^ 
Dessau,  1782- — 1784,  5  vols.  8vo.  6.  "  Prussian  Ornitho« 
logy,''  published  in  the  8tfa,  9tb,  12th,'  13th,  and  I7tb 
numbers  of  the  "  Observator  of  nature^- *  %.  "Essay  ott 
the  natural  history  of  the  Herring,^'  Konigsberg,  17M,  8vo : 
all  the  preceding  are  in  German.  *  >     >;  = 

-  BOCK,  JEROME.     See  TRAGUS. 

BOCKHORST  (John  Van),  called  also  Lan^hen-Jaf^, 
a  painter  of  history  and  portrait  of  the  Flemish  school, 
was  born  at  Munster,  about  the  year  1610;  and  removing 
to  Flanders,  acquired  the  art  of  design  and  colouring  in  the 
school  of  Jacques  Jordaens.     He  designed  well ;  the  head^ 
of  bis  women  are  genendly  graceful  and  ^ose  of  his  niefi^ 
distinguiahied  by  character:  his  tone  vf  colouring aometime^* 
resembled  that  of  Rubens^  but  niore  frequently  that  of- 
Vandyck.     His  pictures  have  great  force  and  harmonyi 
and  bis  skilful  management  of  the  chiam-scuro  producea 
an  agreeable  effect    An  altar-piece  at  the  ehurch  ofSti 
James  in  Ghent,  representing  the  martyrdom  of  this  saint^ 
and  a  picture  of  the  Annunciation. in  another  church^ 
painted  in   1664,  are  distinguished  performances  of  thl^' 
master;     Descamps  mentions  another  John  Van  Bodduttst, 
who  was  born. at  Dentekdom  in  1661,  went  when  young  to: 
London,  and  was  employed  by  sir  Godfrey  Kheller  on  hia 
portraits,  and  the  earl  of  Pembroke  also  Employed  him  to 
paint  portraits,  history;  and  battle  pieces.    He  afterwardi 


B  O  C  K  H  O  R  S  T.  ♦«8 

^iiflirtMc^^  {x>plrait>|mHiting  in  various  parts  of  Germany, 
fMriiidtpiiiUy  at  the  couitof  Brandenburgh  and  in  Cleves, 
w4  idled  ni  i724.  ^ 

V  'AC>CQUILLOT  (LAZiROs  Aijdbew)^  a  French  eccle- 
siasticy  wasbomatAvidloii,  April  l^  1649,  of  poor  parents^ 
who,  however,  neglected  notbhig  that  eould  contribute  to 
]|is.-^a?ing  die  means  of  acqutri ng  a  fortune  by  a  good  edu- 
?8|domc  Heiirst  studied  at  DjJoo,  and  then  went  through 
a^icburse  of  <plttlosop^hy  at  Aniterre.  On  his  return  home, 
he  determined  on  a  military  life,  and  went  to  Paris  in 
k^es  of  being  admitted  iln«o  the  royal  guards.  Not  suc-^ 
cfeding,  he<b^an  to  study  with  a  view  to  the  church,  but 
again '^liijered>  his  mmd,  •  and  accomtianied  M.  de  Nointel, 
th&^Crench  ambassador,  to-  Constantioc^le.  Omfais  return 
at'lJbe>^eod.  of  t««6  years,  he  went  to  Bourges  to  study  law, 
^ndjhftiung  .finished  his  course,  he  practised  for  some  time! 
at  A¥«ll6n  W9tht  considerable  success.  Here,  however,  he 
game;  himself  up  to  a  dissipated  life, -which  ended  in  a  stat^ 
of  melancholy,  during  which  he  wrote  tO' his  brother,  an 
ecclesiastic,  .who  advised  him  to  retire  for  some  months  to 
D^  OMfO^tery  qf  Oarthusiansi  and  meditate  on  his  past  con* 
duct.  BocquiUot  complied^  >  re<s>vered  his  peaceof  mind, 
and  resumed  his  ecclesiastical  studies.  Having  received 
ti^'*  order  of  priesthood,  he  became  curate  of  Ofaatelux, 
l^M^: was  obliged  some  time  after  to  i^mgn  it,  owing  to  his^ 
AesSneny'  Babguh^li^pfxi^tflli^  witba  canronly  at  Avaflon,' 
lie  passed  the  wnlidfidi^/o^  ln9"d  inr^th^olranqoft  em-* 
ployntent  qf  %is  ipen>^<  c6m|]ibsing^  avqgcaatimany.  bomiiies 
a^d^booksTof 'fn^actical  piety^~  whach-he  presented  gratis  to 
th9.boohseil«ff^«xiii(COiidition  thither  should  fix  .such  pricet^ 
cm  thni  aa'/nugbt^iuttr  the  -pbcfeets  of  the  poor.-  Oiiecf 
l^iSr^lMst.^orhsfisdiua  >rTfait6t4riBtoriqiie:d^  laLiturgie  sa«' 
Cf^^ou  de k'Messe,'':' Paris,^^  1 701^  Syo.  He  wrote  also  a 
life  6S  thb  ehevaJite  fiayaid,  under  his  fictitibus  name,  the 
l^ienr  dd  Louval^^  taken  piincipaily6omGodefricH*8  life  of 
l^^yifd,  published  tin  jl^l6,  and  an  antiquary  tract,  en-^ 
tii^led  .^^  Dissevtationfur.lesTombeaur  de  Quarr^e^  vUtage 
de-BoUfgoyne^V  Lyons,  '1724,  8vo.  He  died  of  an  apo*^ 
pkxy  Sqf>t.'22>'  19i2€.  t^s  life  and  letters  were  published 
i^i745,  13mo.%      -    ;- 

BODE  (€li&!ST^HBR  AuQOSTua),  a  learned  professor 
of  the  university  of  Helmstadi^  yns  bom  in  1722,  at  Wer*  :^ 


4€4  BODE* 

Digerode.     After  having  been   edtstated  at  hooie^   wftfc 
great  cure,  by  hU  fatlier,  who  wns  judge  of  thatcity,  a»d 
counsellor  to  the  count  Stolberg  of  Weniigerode,  he  went 
in   1739  lo  the  school  of  Closter-Bergcn,  near  Megde- 
burgh^  then  superintended  by  Steininez,  aad  in  i74>,  took 
his  leave  of  this  school,  in  a  Latin  oration^-  ^^  De  socie;tatr« 
bus  bujus  sevi  notabHioribus.^*     He  then  went  to  Halle; 
and  having  early  imbibed  a  taste  for  oriental  languages 
and  sacred  philology,  he  atiached  himself  particularly  to 
the  two  Michael is'sy  father  and  sou^  who. were  then  pro** 
fessors  in  that  university.     Frooii  Halle,  he  went  to  Leip- 
sic,  where  he  studied  Arabic^  Syriac,  Chaldaic^  Samaritan^ 
Ethiopian,  and  rabbinical  Hebrew.     On  his  r^urn  to  HaMe 
in  1747>  he  maintained  a  thesis  for  his  doc^r^s  degree^ 
under  the  presidency  of  Michaelis  the  father,  /^On  the 
antiquity  of  the  Hebrew  language  ;'*  and  then  opened  m 
course  of  lectures  which  %vere  much  admired*    Notwith^ 
atanUing  this  success,  however,  he  left  Halle^  after  a  resi- 
dence of  two  year^  and  settled  at  Uelmstadt.     Here  be 
became  a  most  popular  teacher,  his  lectures  being  attended 
by  aai  uuiisual  number  of  stndepts;  and  in  1754,  the  uoi-^ 
rersity  secured  his  services  by  appointing  bini  professor 
extraordinary  of    oriental   languages.     About  this  time^ 
happening  to  meet  with  some  works  in  which  the  study  of 
the  Armenian,  Coptiq,  and  Turkish  languagea  was  xecom-* 
mended,  he  had  a  great  diesire  to  add  these  to  his  stock, 
and  not  having  been  able  to  obtain  die  assistance  of  Ja- 
blonski  for  the  Coptic,  he  determined  to  learn  tlie  others 
without  a  master.     Having  begun  this  task  at  his  leisure 
hours,  in  1756,  he  made  such  rapid  progress  as  to  be  able 
to  publish,  before  the  conclusion  of  the  year,  the  first  twa 
chapters  of  St.  Matthew  translated  from  tlie  Turkish  into 
Laiin,  with  a  critical  preface  on  the  history  and  utility 
of  the  Turkish  language ;  and  the  first  four  chapters  of  the. 
same  evangelist  traoslated  from  the  Armenian  into  Latiu, 
with   some   considerations    on    the    Armenian   language. 
These  two  little  works,  which  were  i^ublished,  the  first  at 
Bremen,  and  the  other  at  Halle,  were  criticised  with  some 
severity,  perhapis  not  unjust;  but  the  zeal  and  industry  of 
the  author,  although  not  altogether  successful  in  these  at- 
tempts, were  still  the  subject  of  admirawon,  and  were  not 
unrewarded.   In  1760  he  obtained  a  pension  ;  and  in  17^3, 
lest  he  should  accept  of  the  oifer  of  a  professorship  made 
to  him  by  the  university'  of  Gie^sen,  that  of  Helmstadt 


BODE.  te$ 

conibfred  on  him  the  tide  of  profbtfor  in  ordinary  of  pliiii 
loiopby,  with  an  augmentation  of  ialaiy.  His  rariouf 
wofiiB-  in  the  mean  time  amply  confinnckl  their  choice,  and 
extended  hit  reputation  throughout  Europe*  Of  hii  pri«* 
Tate  life  we  have  no  further  account,  although  it  was  pro^ 
longed  for  many  yean  after  this  period,  as  he  died  of  an  apo- 
plexy^ March  7,  1796.  His  principal  works  are,  1.  ^^Evan<* 
gelium  secondilm  Matthseum  ex  versione  ^thiopici  inter^* 
pretis'in  Bibliis  polyglottis  Anglicanis  editum  cum  Grwco. 
&e/'  Halle,  1748,  4to^  with  a  preface  by  Michaelis  on  the 
EtUepian  translation  of  the  New  Testament.  2.  *^  Evange« 
lium  seoundftm  Matthseum  ex  versione  Persica,  &c.''  Helm* 
stadty  1750,  4to.  3.  Persian  translations  of  Mark,  Luke, 
and  John,  1751,  4to.  published  separately.  4.  *^  Evan- 
gelium  secundum  Marcum  ex  versione  Arabica,  &c.*^ 
Lemgow,  1752,  4to.  5.  ^^  Novum  Testamentum  exver*^ 
sione  iEthiopica,  fcc.  in  Latinum,"  Brunswick,  1753 — 55, 
2  vols.  4to.  6.  **  Fragmenta^  Veteris  Test,  ex  versione 
^tbiopici  interpretis,  et  alia  que&dam  opuscula  JEthiopiea,'' 
Wolfenb.  1755,  4to.  7.  *<  Pseudo-critica  Miliio^iBen'- 
geliana,''  Halle,  1767,  Svo,  pointing  out  some  inaccu* 
racies  in  the  variomm  editions  of  the  New  Testament  by 
these  eminent  eritics.  Bode  is  considered  by  his  country- 
men as  a  man  of  most  extensive  learning,  but  as  destitute 
of  elegance  as  a  writer,  either  in  Latin  or  German,  and 
as  unacquainted  with  the  art  of  enlivening  his  subject.  * 

BODE  (John  Joachim  CHRisTOPireR),  a  bookseller  at 
Hamburgh,  and  a  man  of  considerable  learning,  was  bbrp 
at  Brunswick,  Jan«  16,  1730,  and  died  Dec.  13,  1793. 
He  was*  long  known  for  his  controversial  writings  against 
the  free-masons,  but  perhaps  was  more  esteemed  by  bia 
countrymen  for  bis  translations  into  German  of  various 
foreign  popular  works.  Among  these  were  Marmonters 
Incas  and  Mont^igne^s  Essays  \  and  of  the  English  series, 
Fielding's  Tom  Jones,  Sterne's  Sentimental  Journey,  and 
Tristram  Shandy,  and  Goldsmith's  Vicar  of  Wakefield.  * 

BODEN8TEIN.     See  CARLOSTADT. 

BO  DIN  (JOHK),  a  French  lawyer,  and  political  writer, 
waa  bom  at  Angers  about  1530.  In  his  youth  he  was  sup« 
posed,  but  not  upon  good  foundation,  to  have  been  a 
monk.     He  studied  first  at  Toulbuse,  and  after  taking  hii 

«  -HsrlflB  da  Vilit  BbUslogorom,  vol.  111.  sscsmrttf  left  iiBfsrlraC«4kif. 

VoiTfrieile.  *  Diet.  Hist 

*♦      "    , «  .   ,     >i 

Vol.  V.  H  B 


«6ll  B  6  D  I  N. 

degrees,  read  lecturer  there  with  much  appIaiDie,  hating 
a  design  to  settle  there  as  law-professor,  and  with  that 
Tiew  he  pronounced  an  oration  on  public  instruction  in  the 
schools;    but  finding  Toulouse  uQt  a  sufficiently  ample 
stage  for  his  ambition^  he  removed  to  Paris,  and  began  to 
practise   at  the  bar,  where  his  expectation^  being  like- 
wise disappointed,  he  determined  to  apply  bitps^lf  to  lite- 
rary occupations^  and  in  this  he  had  v^ry  considerable 
success.     Henry  IIL  who  liked  to  have  men  of   letters 
^Sbout  him,  admitted  him  into  familiar  conversation,  and 
had  such  an  opinion  of  him,  that  he  sent  to  prison  one 
John,  or  Michael  de  la  Serre,  who  had  written  against  Bodin, 
aiid^forbid  him  under  pain  of  death  to  pubUsh  his  work  : 
but  this  courtly  favour  did  not  last    Thuanus  ascribes  the 
king^s  withdrawing  his  countenance  to  the  envy  of  the 
courtiers  ;<.but  others  think  it  was  occasioned  by  Bodin^s 
taking  a  political  part  in  opposition  to  the  king.   He  found 
an  asylum,  however,  with  the  duke  of  Alen^on,  whq  made 
him  secretary  of  his  commands,  one  of  the  masters  of  the 
requests  of  bis  palace,  and  grand  master  of  his  waters  and 
forests.     The  insurgents  in  the  Netherlands  at  this  time 
intended  to  declare  the  duke  their  sovereign,  and  were 
said  to  be  prompted  to  this  by  queen  Elisuibeth  of  Eng- 
land.     Bodin,  however,   accompanied  him  into  England 
and  Flanders,  but  he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  this  patron 
in  1584. 

In  1576  he  was  chosen  deputy  to  the  states-general  of 
Blois,  by  the  tiers -e tat  of  Vermandois,  and  ably  contended 
for .  the  rights  of  the  people,  and  particularly  opposed 
those  who  would  have  all  the  king's  subjects  constrained 
tQ  profess  the  Catholic  religion,  which  we  can  easily  sup- 
pose effectually  prevented  the  king  from  being  reconciled 
•to  him.  He  after  this  appears  to  have  resided  at  Laon, 
where,  in  1589,  he  persuaded  that  city  to  declare  for  the 
league,  and  at  the  same  time  wrote  to  the  president  Bris- 
son,  a  letter  severely  reflecting  on  Henry  III.  but  this  fault 
he  afterwards  repaired  by  securing  the  allegiance  of  Laon 
to  Henry  IV.  .  He  died  of  the  plague  at,  Laon,  in  1596, 
.leaving  a  character  more  dubious  than  that  of  any  man  in 
his  time,  and  the  light  thrown  upon  it,  in  his  works  is 
..certainly  not  of  the  most  favourable  kind*  It  may  be  said, 
that  although  toleration  was  a  word  not  known  in  his  time, 
he  appears  to  have  cherished  some  liberal  notions  on  the 
subject,  but,  as  to  religious  principles,  be  had  so  little 


V 


B  O  D  I  N-  461 


Steadiness,  that  he  was  by  turns  accounted,  perhaps  not 
always  justly,  a  Protestant,  Papist,  Deist,  Sorcerer,  Jew, 
and  Atbeist;  D*Aguessau,  however,  pronounces  him  a 
worthy  magistrate,  a  learned  author,  and  a  good  citizen. 
His  .first  work  was  a  commentary  on  Oppian^s  **  Cynoge*- 
ticon,'*  Paris,  1549,  4to,  in  which  he  is  supposed  to  have 
availed  himself  rather  too  freely  of  the  notes  of  Turnebus. 
He  then  published  an  introduction  to  the  study  of  history, 
under  the  title  '^  Methodus  ad  facilem  Historiarum  cognLy 
tionem,^^  Paris,  1566,  4to,  the  principal  fault  of  which  is 
that  it  does  not  correspond  with  the  title,  being  very  d^*' 
sultory  and  immethodical.  But  that  which  procured  him 
most  reputation,  was  his  six  books  on  "  The  Republic,"  a 
work  equally  immethodical  with  the  other,  and  abounding 
in  digressions  and  irrelevant  matter,  yet,  for  the  time,  an 
extraordinary  collection  of  facts  and  reflections  on  politi- 
cal government.  It  was  soon  translated  into  other  lan- 
guages, and  was  read  with  much  interest  in  an  age  when 
the  principles  of  government  were  seldom  discussed  in 
books.  When  in  England  with  the  duke  of  Alen5on,  we 
are  told  that  he  found  the  English  had  made  a  Latin  trans- 
lation of  it,  bad  enough,  but,  bad  as  it  was,  the  subject 
of  lectures  at  London  and  Cambridge.  Bodin  reports 
thus  far  himself;  but  that  "it  became  a  classic  at  Cam- 
bridge*' has  been  supplied  by  his  biographers,  who  were 
probably  not  aware  that  lectures  on  political  government 
were  then  no  part  of  Cambridge  education,  and  if  his  book 
was  explained  and  commented  on  there  or  at  London,  it 
must  have  been  by  individuals.  In  this  work  he  introduces 
the  influence  of  climate  on  the  principles  of  government ; 
and  as  Montesquieu  has  done  the  same.  La  Harpe,  the 
French  critic,  terms  Bodin' s  book  the  '*  germ*of  the  Spirit 
of  Laws,"  but  this  notion  is  far  more  ancient  than  either, 
and  not  indeed  of  much  consequence,  whether  old  or  new. 
The  first  edition  of  these  "  Livres  de  la  Republique"  was 
printed  at  Paris,  1577,  fol.  and  was  followed  by  three 
others,  1577,  1578,  and  1580  ;  but  the  edition  of  Lyons, 
1593,  and  that  of  Geneva,  1600,  are  preferred,  because 
they  contain  Bodin's  Treatise  on  Coins.  He  afterwards 
translated  it  into  Latin,  Paris,  1586,  fol.  an  edition  ofteu 
reprinted,  and  more  complete  .than  the  French,  and  se- 
veral abridgements  were  published  of  it,  both  in  Latin  and 
French.  His  tables  of  law,  entitled  ^*  Juris  Universi  Dis- 
tributio,**  were  printed  in  1678,  and  in  the  following  year„ 

H  H  2 


468  B  O  D  I  N. 

bis  ^^  D^monomante  des  Sorciers/^  to  which  was  annexed 
**  A  refutation  of  the  book,  de  Lamiis,'*  of  John  Wier, 
physician  to  the  duke  of  Cieves,  who  had  undertaken  to 
prove  that  the  stories  of  witchcraft  and  sorcery  have  chiefly 
arisen  from  imposture  or  delusions  Of  fancy.     The  literary 
character  of  Bodin,  who  defended  this  kind  of  superstition, 
incurred  reproach,  and  he  himself  was  suspected  of  being 
i^agician.     A  work  written  by  him,  but  never  printed,  and 
#^ntitled  '^  Heptaplomeron,  sive  de  abditis  rerum  sublimium 
arcariis,^'  is  said  to  have  been  an  attack  upon  religion,  and 
designed  to  invalidate  the  authority  of  revelation.     By  the 
seeming  advantages  which  he  gave  in  this  work  to  the 
Jewish  religion,  he  was  suspected  of  being  a  convert  to  it; 
but  it  is  more  probable  that  he  was  a  sceptic  with  regard 
.  to  religion,  and  alike  indiflPerent  to  all  modes  of  faith.     A 
little  while  before  his  death  he  published  a  Latin  treatise, 
entitled  "  Theatrum  Univei^ae  Naturae,"  in  which  he  pro- 
fesses to  pursue  the  causes  and  effects  of  things  to  their 
principles.  * 

BODLEY  (Sill  Thomas),  that  illustrious  benefactor  to 
literature,  from  whom  the  public  library  at  Oxford  takes 
its  name,  was  the  son  of  Mr.  John  Bodley,  of  Exeter,  and 
of  his  wife  Joan,  daughter  and  heiress  of  Robert  Home, 
esq.  of  Otteiy  St.  Mary,  near  Exeter.     By  his  father's  side 
he  descended  from  the  ancient  family  of  the  Bodleys,  or 
Bodleighs,  of  Dunscomb,  near  Crediton,  in  Devonshire. 
He  was  bom  at  Exeter,  March  2,   1544,  and  was  about 
twelve  years  of  age  when  his  father  was  obliged  to  leave 
England  on  account  of  his  religion,  and  settle  at  Geneva, 
where  he  lived  during  the  reign  of  queen  Mary.     The 
English  church  at  Geneva  consisted,  as  he  himself  informs 
us,  of  some  hundred  persons ;  and  here,  the  university  hav- 
ing been  newly  erected,  he  frequented  the  public  lectures 
of  Chevalerius  on  the  Hebrew  tongue,  of  Beroaldus  on  the 
Greek,  and  of  Calvin  and  Beza  on  divinity,  and  had  also 
domestic  teachers  in  the  house  of  Philibertus  Saracenus, 
a  physician  of  that  citj^,    with  whom   he  boarded,   and 
Where  Robert  Constantitle,  author  of  the  Gireek.  Lexicon, 
read  Homer  to  him.     Under  such  masters,  we  cannot  doubt 
his  proficiency,  although  we  have  no  more  particular  de« 
tail  of  bis  early  studies  upon  record.     Whatever  else  he 

*  6en.  Bict.*— Bio|^.  UBivenelle.--'B]ouiit's  CcD8uni««*Bail]et  Jugemenf  dM 
SKTaQs.— jSaxii  Onomatt 


B  O  p  L  E  Y.  469 

/ 

I 

learned,  be  appears  to  have  imbibed  an  uncommon  love  of 
books,  to  have  studied  their  history,  and  to  have  prepared 
himself,  although  unconscious  of  the  result,  for  that  know* 
ledge  which,  it  is  evident  from  his  correspondence,  he  was 
perpetually  increasing,  and  which  at  length,  when  the 
political  prospects  which  once  flattered  his  ambition  were 
closed,  enabled,  as  well  as  incited  him,  to  re-found  the 
public  library  at  Oxford. 

Upon  the  accession  of  queen  Elizabeth  in  1558,  he  re- 
turned into  England  with  his  father  and  family,  wjio 
3ettied  at  London ;  and  soon  after,  he  was  sent  to  Mag-* 
dalen  college,  in  Oxford,  under  the  tuition  of  Dr.  Hum- 
phrey, afterwards  president  of  that  society.  In  14^63  betook 

•  the  degree  of  B.  A.  and  the  same  year  was  chosen  proba- 
tioner of  Merton  college,  and  the  year  following  admitted 
fellow.  In  1565,  by  persuasion  of  some  of  the  fellows^ 
he  undertook  the  public  reading  of  a  Greek  lecture  in  the 
hall  of  that  college,  which  he  .continued  for  some  time 
without  expecting  or  requiring  any  stipend ;  but  afterwards' 
the  society  of  their  own  accord  allowed  him  a  salary  of 
four  marks  per  annum  ;  and  from  that  time  continued  the 

lecture  to  the  college.  In  1566  he  took  the  degree  of 
M.  A.,  and  the  same  yeiar  read  natural  philosophy  in  the 
public  schools.  In  1569  he  was  elected  one  of  the  proc- 
tors of  the  university;  and  after  that,  for  a  considerable 
time,  supplied  the  place  of  university  orator.  Hitherto 
Mr.  Bodley  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  various  facul- 
ties, without  the  inclination  to  profess  any  one  mOre  than 
the  rest;  but,  in  1576,  being  desirous  to  improve  hinxself 
in  the  modern  languages,  and  to  quality  himself  for  public 
business,  he  began  his  travels,  antl  spent  nearly  four  years 
in  visiting  Francf,  Germany,  and  Italy.  Afterwards,  re- 
turning to  bis  college,  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of 
history  and  politics.  In  1583  he  was  made  gentleman 
usher  to  queen  Elizabeth;  and  in  1585,  married  Anne, 
daughter  of  Mr.  Carew,  of  Bristol,  and  widow  of  Mr.  Ball, 
a  lady  of  considerable  fortune.  Soon  after,  he  was  em- 
ployed by  queen  Elizabeth  in  several  embassies  to  Fre- 
derick king  of  Denmark,  Julius  duke  of  Brunswick,  Wil- 
'  liam  landgrave  of  Hesse,  and  other  German  princes^  to 
jsngage  them  to  join  their  forces- with  those  of  the  English, 
for  the  assistance  of  the  king  of  Navarre,  afterwards 
Henry  IV.  of  France ;  and  having  discharged  that  com- 
mission, he  was  sent  to  king  Henry  III.  at  the  time  when 


470      .  B  O  D  L  E  Y. 

that  prince  was  forced  by  the  duke  of  Guise  to  quit  Riri^. 
This  commission,  he  tells  us,  he  performed  with  exttaor-* 
dinary  secrecy,  not  being  accompanied  by  any  one  servant, 
(for  so  he  was  commanded),  nor  with  any  other  letters 
than  such  as  were  written  with  the  queen^s  own  hand  to 
the  king,  and  some  select  persons  about  him.  "  The  ef- 
fect," he  adds,  ^^  of  that  message  it  is  fit  I  should  conceal ; 
but  it  tended  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  all  the  Protestants 
in  Prance,  and  to  the  duke's  apparent  overthrow,  which 
also  followed  soon  upon  it.^'  Camden  says  nothing  more 
of  this  embassy  than  that  queen  Elizabeth  "  not  only  as- 
sisted the  king  of  Navarre,  when  he  was  entangled  in  a 
dangerous  and  difficult  war,  with  money  and  other  military 
provisions,  but  sent  over  sir  Thomas  Bodley  to  support  or. 
'  encourage  the  French  king  when  his  affairs  seemed  to  be 
in  a  very  desperate  condition." 

In  1588  he  was  sent  to  the  Hague,  to  manage  the 
queen's  affairs  in  the  United  Provinces,  where,  according 
to  an  agreement  between  the  queen  and  the  states,  he 
was  admitted  one  of  the  council  of  state,  and  took  his 
place  next  to  count  Maurice,  giving  his  vote  in  every  pro* 
position  made  to  that  assembly.  In  this  station  he  behaved 
greatly  to  the  satisfaction*  of  his  royal  mistress,  and  the 
advancement  of  the  public  service.  A  more  particular 
account  of  sir  Thomas's  negociations  with  the  states  may 
be  seen  in  Camden's  "  Annals  of  queen  Elizabeth,"  under 
the  year  1595,  and  in  a  short  piece,  written  by  sir  Tho- 
mas himself,  and  published  by  Mr.  Thomas  Heame  in  his 
notes  upon  that  passage  of  Camden,  entitled  **  An  account 
of  an  Agreement  between  queen  Elizabeth  and  the  United 
Provinces,  wherein  she  supported  them,  and  they  stood 
not  to  their  agreement." 

After  near  five  years  residence  in  Holland,  he  obtained 
leave  to  return  to  England  to  look  after  his  private  affairs, 
but  was  shortly  after  remanded  back  to  the  Hague.  About 
a  year  after  he  came  into  England  again,  to  communi- 
cate some  private  discoveries  to  the  queen ;  and  presently 
returned  to  the  States  for  the  execution  of  those  councils 
he  had  secretly  proposed.  At  length,  having  succeeded 
in  all  his  negociations,  he  obtained  his  final  recalin  1597. 
After  his  return,  finding  his  advancement  at  court  ob- 
structed by  tlie  jealousies  and  intrigues  of  the  great  men, 
he  retired  from  the  court  and  all  public  business,  and 
never  could  be  prevailed  with  to  return  and  accept  of  apy 


B  O  D  L  E  Y;  47i. 

.  new  employment*  His  own  account  of  his  treatment  at: 
thia  time  is  too  amusing  and  characteristic  to  be  omitted : 
**  I  cannot  chuse,"  says  he,  "  in  making  report  of  the 
principal  accidents  that  have  befallen  unto  me  in  the  course 
of  my  life,  but  record  among  the  rest,  that  from  the  very 
first  day  1  had  no  man  more  to  friend,  among  the  lords  of 
the  council,  than  was  the  lord  treasurer  Burleigh ;  for  when 
occasion  bad  been  offered  of  declaring  his  conceit,  as 
touching  my  service,  he  would  always  tell  the  queen 
(which  I  received  from  herself,  and  some  other  ear-wit- 
nesses) that  there  was  not  any  man  in  England  so  meet  as 
myself  to  undergo  the  oflSce  of  the  secretary  ;  and  since, 
his  son  the  present  lord  treasurer  hath  signified  unto  me  in 
private  conference,  tliat,  when  his  father  first  intended  to 
advance  him  to  that  place,  his  purpose  was  withal  to  make 
me  his  colleague.  But  the  case  stood  thus  in  my  behalf : 
Before  such  time  as  I  returned  from  the  Provinces  United, 
which  was  in  the  year  1597,  and  likewise  after  my  return, 
the  earl  of  Essex  did  use  me  so  kindly,  both  by  letters  and 
messages,  and  other  great  tokens  of  his  inward  favour  to 
me,  that,  although  I  had  no  meaning  but  to  settle  in  n^y 
mind  my  chiefest  dependance  upon  the  lord  Burleigh,  as 
one  that  1  reputed  to  be  both  the  best  able,  and  ttiere- 
withal  the  most  willing,  to  work  my  advancement  with  the 
queen ;  yet  I  know  not  how  the  earl,  who  sought  by  all 
devices  to  divert  her  love  and  liking  both  from  the  father 
and  the  son  (but  from  the  son  in  special),  to  withdraw  my 
affection  from  the  one  and  the  other,  and  to  win  me  alto- 
gether to  depend  upon  hiniself,  xlid  so  often  take  occasion 
to  entertain  the  queen  with  some  prodigal  speeches  of  my 
sufficiency  for  a  secretary,  which  were  ever  accompanied 
with  words  of.  disgrace  against  the  present  lord  treasurer, 
as  neither  she  herself  (of  whose  favour  before  I  was  tho- 
roughly assured)  took  any  great  pleasure  to  prefer  me  the 
sooner  (for  she  hated  his  ambition,  and  would  give  little 
countenance  to  any  of  his  followers) ;  and  both  the  lord 
Burleigh  and  his  son  waxed  jealous  of  my  courses,  as  if 
underhand  I  had  been  induced,  by  the  cunning  and  kind- 
ness of  the  earl  of  Essex,  to  oppose  myself  against  their 
deaUngs.  And  though  in  very  truth  they  had  no  solid 
ground  at  all  of  the  least  alteration  in  my  disposition  to- 
wards either  of  them  both  (for  I  did  greatly  respect  their 
persons  and  places,  with  a  settled  resolution  to  do  them 
my  service,  as  also  in  my  heart  I  detested  to  be  of  any 


472  B  O  D  L  E  t. 

faction  wbatsoeyer)  yet  the  ndw  lord  treasurer,  upon  oc- 
casion of  some  talk  that  I  have  since  bad  with  him  of  the 
earl  and  his  actions,  hath  freely  con£essed  of  his  own  ac* 
cord  to  me,  that  his  daily  provocations  were  so  bitter  and 
sharp  against  him,  and  his  comparisons  so  odious,  when  be 
put  us  in  a  balance,  as  be  thought  thereupon,  he  had  very 

fl^reat  reason  to  use  his  best  means  to  put  any  man  out  of 
ove  of  raising  his  fortune,  whom  the  earl  with  such  vio- 
lence, to  his  extreme  prejudice,  had  endeavoured  to  dig- 
nify. And  this,  as  he  affirmed,  was  all  the  motive  be  had 
to  set  himself  against  me,  in  whatsoever  might  redound  to 
the  bettering  of  my  state,  or  increasing  my  credit  aud 
countenance  with  the  queen.  When  I  had  thorougrdy 
now  bethought  me,  first  in  the  earl,  of  the  slender  hold- 
fast he  had  in  the  queen;  of  an  endless  opposition  of  the 
ehiefest  of  our  statesmen  like  still  to  wait  upon  him ;  of 
his  perilous,  feeble,  and  uncertain  advice,  as  well  in  his 
own,  as  in  all  the  causes  of  his  friends ;  and  when  more- 
over for  myself  I  had  fully  considered  how  very  untowardly 
these  two  counsellors  were  affected  unto  me,  (upon  whom 
before  in  cogitation  I  had  framed  all  the  fabric  of  my  fu* 
tiire  prosperity) ;  how  ill  it  did  concur  with  my  natural 
disposition,  to  become,  or  to  be  eounted  a  stickler 
or  partaker  in  any  public  faction ;  how  well  I  was  able, 
by  God's  good  blessing,  to  live  of  myself,  if  I  could 
be  content  with  a  competent  livelihood ;  how  short  a  time 
of  farther  life  I  was  then  to  expect  by  the  common  course  of 
nature ;  when  I  had,  I  say,  in  this  manner  represented  to 
my  tlioughts  my  particular  estate,  together  with  the  earPs^ 
I  resolved  thereupon  to  possess  my  soul  in  peace  all  the 
residue  of  my  days ;  to  take  my  full  farewell  of  state  em- 
ployments; to  satisfy  my  mind  with  that  mediocrity  of 
worldly  living  that  I  had  of  mine  own ;  and  so  to  retire 
me  from  the  court,  which  was  the  epilogue  and  end  of  all 
my  actions,  and  endeavours  of  any  important  note,  till  I. 
came  to  the  age  of  sixty  three.  Now  although  after  tbis,^ 
by  her  majesty's  directions,  I  was  often  called  to  the  court 
by  the  no\y  lord  treasurer,  then  secretary,  and  required  by 
him,  as  also  divers  times  since,  by  order  from  the  king,  u> 
serve  as  an  ambassador  in  France,  to  go  a  commissioner 
from  his  highness  for  concluding  the  truce  between  Spain 
and  the  Provinces,  and  to  negociate  in  other  very  honour- 
able employments;  yet  I  would  not  be  removed  from  mj^ 
former  final  resolution ;  insomuch  as  at  length  to  r^du^ 


B  O  D  L  E  Y.  47S 

ine  the  sooner  to  return  to  the  court,  I  bad  an  offer  mf^de 
me  by  the  present  lord  treasurer  (for  iu  process  of  time  be 
saw,  as  he  himself  was  pleased  to  tell  me  more  than  once^ 
that  all  my  dealing  was  upright,  fair,  and  direct)  that  in 
case  I  myself  were  willing  unto  it,  he  would  make  me  hi» 
associate  in  the  secretary's,  ofBce :  And  to  the  intent  I 
might  believe  that  he  intended  it  bona  fide,  he  would  get 
me  out  of  hand  to  be  sworn  of  the  council.  And  for  the 
better  enabling  of  my  state  to  maintain  such  a  dignity, 
whatsoever  1  would  ask  that  might  be  fit  for  him  to  deal  in^ 
and  for  me  to  enjoy,  he  would  presently  solicit  the  king  to 
give  it  passage.  All  which  persuasions  notwithstanding, 
albeit  I  was  often  assaulted  by  him,  in  regard  of  my  years, 
and  for  that  I  felt  myself  subject  to  many  indispositions, 
besides  some  other  reasons,  which  I  reserve  uoto^  myself, 
Lhave  continued  still  at  home  my  retired  course  of  life, 
which  is  now  methinks  to  me  as  the  greatest  preferment 
that  the  state  can  afford."  Mr.  Camden  mentions  the  af- 
fair of  sir  Thomas's  disappointment  in  regard  to  the  office 
of  secretary  in  these  words :  "  It  raised  in  him  (the  earl  of 
Essex)  a  greater  and  more  apparent  discontent,  that  sir 
Robert  Cecil  was  chosen  secretary  in  his  absence  ;  whereas 
he  had  some  time  before  recommended  sir  Thomas  Bodley^ 
on  the  score  of  his  great  wisdom  and  experience  in  the  af* 
fairs  of  the  Low  Countries,  and  had  run  very  high  in  hia 
commendations;  but  with  so  much  bitterness^  and  so  little 
reason,  disparaged  Cecil,  that  the  queen  (who  had  by  this 
time  a  mean  opinion  of  Essex's  recommendations)  was  the 
more  inclinable  to  refuse  to  make  Bodley  secretary ;  neither 
would  she  let  the  lord  treasurer  join  him  in  commissioa 
with  his  son  ;  both  which  honours  were  designed  him,  till 
Essex,  by  too  profuse  and  lavish  praises,  had  rendered 
him  suspected  as  a  creature  of  his  own." 

In  the  same  year  (1597)  he  began  the  munificent  work 
oif  restoring,  or  rather  founding  anew,  the  public  library 
at  Oxford,  which  was  completed  in  1599.  In  his  memoira 
he  has  admirably  displayed  his  first  thoughts,  his  first  feeU^ 
ings,  and  his  first  precautions  on  this  important  undertak-. 
ing.  After  adverting  to  the  motives  which  induced  him  to 
retire  from  court  and  chuse  a  private  life,  he  goes  on  thus; 
**  Only  this  I  must  truly  confess  of  myself,  that  though  % 
did  never  yet  repent  me  of  those,  and  some  otlier  my  otten 
refusals  of  honourable  offers,  in  respect  of  enriching  my 
private  ^tate ;  yet  somewhat  more  of  late  I  have  blamed 


474  B  O  D  L  E  y, 

myself  and  my  nicety  that  way,  for  the  love  that  I  bear  to 
my  reverend  mother  the  university  of  Oxon,  and  to  the 
advancement  of  her  good,  by  such  kind  of  means,  ^  I 
have  since  undertaken.  For  thus  1  fell  to  discourse  and 
debate  in  my  mind ;  that  although  I  might  find  it  fittest 
for  me  to  keep  out  of  the  throng  of  court  contentions,  and 
address  my  thoughts  and  deeds  to  such  ends  altogether,  as 
I  myself  could  best  affect;  yet  withal  I  was  to  think,  that 
my  duty  towards  God,  the  expectation  of  the  world,  and 
my  natural  inclination,  and  very  morality  did  require,  that 
I  should  not  wholly  so  hide  those  little  abilities  that  I  had, 
but  that  in  some  measure,  in  one  kind  or  other,  I  should 
do  the  true  part  of  a  profitable  member  of  the  state. 
Whereupon  examining  exactly  for  the  rest  of  my  life  what 
course  I  might  take,  and  having  sought  (as  I  thought)  all 
the  ways  to  the  wood,  to  select  the  most  proper,  I  con- 
cluded at  the  last  to  set  up  my  staff  at  the  library  door  in 
Oxon,  being  thoroughly  persuaded,  that  in  my  solitude 
and  surcease  from  the  commonwealth  affairs,  I  could  not 
busy  myself  to  better  purpose,  than  by  reducing  that  place 
(which  then  in  every  part  lay  ruined  and  waste)  to  the 
public  use  of  students.  For  the  effecting  whereof  I  found 
myself  furnished,  in  a  competent  proportion,  of  such  four 
kinds  of  aids,  as,  unless  I  had  them  all,  there  was  no  hope 
of  good  success.  For  without  some  kind  of  knowledge,  as 
well  in  the  learned  and  modern  tongues,  as  in  sundry  other 
sorts  of  scholastical  literature  ;  without  some  purse-ability 
to  go  through  with  the  charge  ;  without  great  store  of  ho- 
nourable friends,  to  further  the  design ;  and  without  spe-* 
cial  good  leisure  to  follow  such  a  work,  it  could  but  have 
proved  a  vain  attempt  and  inconsiderate.  But  how  well  I 
have  sped  in  all  my  endeavours,  and  how  full  provision  I 
have  made  for  the  benefit  and  ease  of  all  frequenters  of  the 
library,  that  which  I  have  already  performed  in  sight,  that 
which  besides  I  have  given  for  the  maintenance  of  it,  and 
that  which  hereafter  I  purpose  to  add,  by  way  of  enlarge- 
ment of  that  place  (for  the  project  is  cast,  and,  whether  I 
live  or  die,  it  shall  be,  God  willing,  put  in  full  execution), 
will  testify  so  truly  and  abundantly  for  me,  as  I  need  not  be 
the  publisher  of  the  dignity  aiid  worth  of  my  own  institu- 
tion.'' Camden,  under  the  year  1598,  tells  us,  that  Bod« 
ley,  being  at  present  unengaged  from  affairs  of  state,  set 
himself  a  task,'  which  would  have  suited  the  character  of  a 
crowned  head,  the  promotion  and  encouragement  of  learn^ 


B  O  D  L  E  Y.  475 

ing ;  for  he  began  to  repair  the  public  library  at  Oxford,  * 
and  furnished  it  with  new  books.  It  was  set  up,  he  adds, 
by  Humphrey  duke  of  Gloucester,  but  through  the  iniquity 
of  the  times  was,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  stripped  of  ail 
the  books  ;  but  he  (Bodley)  having  made  the  choicest  col- 
lection from  all  parts  of  the  world  of  the  most  valuable 
books,  partly  at  his  own  cost,  and  partly  by  contributions 
from  others,  he  first  stocked,  and  afterwards  left  it  so  well 
endowed  at  his  death,  that  his  memory  deserves  to  bear 
a  very  lasting  date  amongst  men  of  worth  and  letters.'* 
The  same  author,  in  his  ^^  Britannia,'^  tells  us,  duke 
Humphrey's  library  consisted  of  otie  hundred  and  twenty- 
nine  volumes,  procured  from  Italy  at  a  great  expence. 
His  translator  adds;  that  they  were  valued  at  above  a  thou-> 
sand  pounds,  and  that  the  duke  in  1440  gave  one  hundred 
and  twenty-six  volumes  more,  and  in  1 443  a  much  greater 
number,  besides  considerable  additions  at  his  death  three 
years  after.  But,  before  duke  Humphrey's  time,  Richard 
de  Bury,  alias  Aungervil,  bishop  of  Durham,  in  129^,  gave 
a  great  number  of  books  to  the  university,  which  were  kept 
in  a  place  for  that  purpose  in  the  college^  now  Trinity  col- 
lege, which  the  monks  of  Durham  had  founded  in  the  north 
suburbs  of  Oxford  *,  an  account  whereof  may  be  gathered 
from  a  book  written  by  himself,  called  ^*  Philobiblos,  sive 
de  amore  librorum,  et  institutione  Bibliothecfle."  And 
after  him,  in  1320,  Thdmas  Cobham,  bishop  of  Worces- 
ter, built  another  over  the  old  Congregation-house  in  the 
north  ccemetery  of  St.  Mary's.  In  1597,  sir  Thomas  Bod- 
ley, taking  into  his  consideration  the  ruinous  condition  of 
duke  Humphrey's  library,  and  resolving  to  undertake  the 
restoration  of  it  at  his  own  expence,  wrote  a  letter,  dated 
at  London,  Jan.  23,  to  Dr.  Ravis,  dean  of  Christ  church, 
then  vice-chancellor,  to  be  communicated  to  the  univer- 
sity; offering  therein  to  restore  the  fabric  of  the  said 
library,  and  to  settle  an  annual  income  for  the  purchase  of 
books,  and  the  support  of  such  officers  as  might  be  neces- 
sary to  take  care  of  it.  This  letter  was  received  with  the 
greatest  satisfaction  by  the  university,  and  an  answer  re- 
turned, testifying  their  most  grateful  acknowledgment  and 
acceptance  of  his  nob'e  offer.  On  this,-  sir  Thomas  imme-. 
diately  set  about  the  work,  and  in  two  years  time  brought 
it  to  a  good  degree  of  perfection.  In  1601,  the  university 
had  such  a  sense  of  his  services  that  he  was  voted  a  public 
benefactor,  and  his  name  ordered  to  be  included  among 


476  B  O  D  L  E  Y. 

the  other  benefactors  repeated  in  the  public  .prayers.     He 
furnished  it  with  a  large  collection  of  books,  purchased  in 
foreign  coud tries  at  a  great  expence  ;  and  this  collection 
in  a  short  time  became  so  greatly  enlarged  by  the  generous 
benefactions  of  several  noblemen,  bishops,  and  others,  that 
neither  the  shelves  nor'^he  room  could  contain  them.     Sir 
Thomas  then  oifering  to  make  a  considerable  addition  to 
the  building,  the  motion  was  readily  embraced,  and,  on 
July  19,   1610,  the  first  stone  of  the  new  foundation  was 
laid   with  great  solemnity,    the  vice-chancellor,   doctors, 
masters  of  arts,  &c.  attending  in   their  proper  hab:i^^  a 
speech  being  made  upon  the  occasion.     But  sir  Thonias 
Bodiey  did  not  live  to  see  this  part  of  his  design  completedf 
though  he  left  sufficient  means  in  trust,  as  he  bestowed  his 
whole  estate  (his  debts,  legacies,  and  funeral  charges  de« 
frayed)  to  the  noble  purposes  of  this  foundation.     By  this, 
^nd  the  help  of  other  benefactions,  in  procuring  which  sir 
Thomas  was  very  serviceable  by  his   great  interest  with 
many  eminent  persons,  the  university  was  enabled  to  add 
three  other  sides  to  what  was  already  built,  forming  a  noble 
.  quadrangle,  and  spacious  rooms  for  schools  of  arts.     By 
sir  Thomases  will  200/.  per  annum  was  settled  on  the  library 
for  ever ;  out  of  which  he  appointed  near  forty  pounds  for 
the  head  librarian,  ten  pounds  for  the  sub- librarian,  apd 
eight  for  the  junior.     He  drew  up  likewise  a  body  of  ex^ 
(client  statutes  for  the  government  of  the  library.     In  this 
library  is  a  statue  erected  to  the  mempry  of  sir  Thomas 
Bodiey,  by  the  earl  of  Dorset,  chancellor  of  the  university, 
with  the  following  inscription  :  *''  Thomas  Sackvillus  Dor- 
settles    Comes,    Sumnius  Angliae  Thesaurarius,   et  bujus 
Acad^miae  Cancellarius,  Thomse  Bodleio  Equiti  Aurato, 
qui  Bibliothecam  banc  instituit,  honoris  causa  pie  posuit ; 
i»  e,  Thomas  Sackvile,  earl  of  Dorset,  lord  high  treasurer  of 
England,  and  chancellor  of  this  university,  piously  erected 
this  monument  to  the  honour  of  sir  Thomas  Bodiey,  kht. 
ivho  founded  this  library.^'     ^ii^g  James  I.  we  are  told, 
when  he  came  to  Oxford  in  1605,  and,  among  other  edi- 
fices, took  a  view  of  this  famous  library,  at  his  departure, 
in  imitation  of  Alexander,  broke  out  into  this  speech  :  '^If 
I  were  not  a  king,  I  would  be  an  university  man  ;  and  if  it 
^ere  so  that  I  must  be  a  prisoner,  if  I  might  have  my  wish, 
X  would  have  no  other  prison  than  that  library,  and  be 
chained  together  with  ao  many  good  authors."     A  cata*^ 
lo^ue  pf  the  printed  books  ia  the  Bodleian  library  was  pub-* 


B  O  1>  L  E  Y.  ili 

lished  in  1674  by  Dr.  Thomas  Hyde,  then  chief  librarian  ; 
another  of  the  manuscripts  was  printed  in  1697;  and  a 
more  ample  catalogue  of  the  books  .wus  printed  at  Oxford, 
in  1738,  in  two  volumes,  folio. 

After  king  Jameses  accession  to  the  throne,  sir  Thomas 
received  the  honour  of  knighthood  ;  and  firom  this  time,  it 
appears  by  the  Cabala  (p.  95),  he  lived  mostly  at  Pirsoh^* 
Green,  Middlesex.  His  town  house  was  in  the  parish  of 
St  Bartholomew  the  Less,  near  Smithfield,  London,  where 
his  wife  died  and  was  buried  June  1611,  and  here  likewise 
sir  Thomas  died,  Jan.  28,  1612.  It  is  probable  he  had 
been  for  some  time  indisposed,  as  we  find  by  Wood's  An- 
nals, that  the  vice-chancellor,  heads  of  houses  and  proc- 
tors sfent  to  him  letters  of  condolence,  dated  Jan.  17.  We 
learn  from  the  same  author,  that  as  soon  as  his  death  was 
announced,  the  university  assembled  to  consider  of  the 
most  honourable  testimony  of  I'espect  for  his  memory,  en 
which  it  was  agreed  that  a  distant  day  should  be  appointed 
for  his  interment  in  Merton  college  chapel,  which  be  bad 
himself  desired.  The  ceremony  was  accordingly  perfonh- 
ed  with  a  solemnity  and  pomp  becoming  the  university 
which  he  had  so  amply  enriched.  The  body  lay  in  state 
for  some  days  in  the  hall  of  Merton  college,  surrounded 
by  three  heralds  at  arms,  the  relations  of  the  deceased, 
his  executors,  the  vice-<ihanceUor,  dean  of  Christ  church, 
the  proctors  and  bedels,  and  the  whole  society  of  Merton. 
On  the  day  of  the  funeral,  March  27,  a  procession  was 
formed  of  the  heads  of  the  several  houses,  all  the  distin- 
guished members  'of  the  university,  and  sixty-seven  poor 
scholars  (the  number  of  his  years)  chosen  by  the  heads  of 
houses :  the  body  was  removed  from  Merton  college 
through  Christ  church,  and  thence  through  the  high  street 
to  the  divinity  school,  where  it  was  deposited  while  an 
'  oration  was  delivered  by  Richard  Corbet,  afterwards  bishop 
of  Oxford.  It  was  then  removed  to  St.  Mary*s  church, 
where  a  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  Dr.  William  Good- 
IvyUj  dean  of  Christ  church  ;  and  these  ceremonies  being 
over,  the  corpse  was  conveyed  to  Merton  college,  and, 
after  another  speech*  by  John  Hales,  fellow  of  Merton, 
**  the  ever  memorable,'*  was  interred  at  the  upper  end  of 
the  choir,  under  the  north  wall.     In  1615  Stone  the  statu** 

"*  These  two   fiineral  orattouB   are     other  academical  tributes  were  offered 
priced  ill    *<Bate9ii  V'it«,'*  p.  41 6^     tol&odtey't  memory  at  the  time. 
and  tbtt  of  Hales  in  hts  irorks.    Many « 


*n  B  O  D  L  JE  Y. 

9xy  was  employed  tx>  erec^  a  monument  of  black  aiul  white 
marble,  on  which  is  placed  his  effigies,  in  a  schoiar^s  g^wA, 
surrounded  with  books ;  and  at  the  four  corners  stand 
grammar,  rhetoric,  music,  and  arithmetic.  On  each  hatid 
of  his  effigies  stands  an  angel ;  that  on  the  left  holdsr  out 
to  him  a  crown ;  and  that  on  the  right  a  book  open,  in . 
which  are  these  words ;  Non  delebo  nomen  ejus  de  libro 
vitBd ;  2.  e,  ^^  I  will  not  blot  his  name  out  of  the  book  of 
life.'^  Underneath  is  the  figure  of  a  woman,  sitting  before 
the  stairs  of  the  old  library,  holding  in  one  hand  a  key, 
and  in  the  other  a  book,  wherein  the  greatest  part  of  the 
alphabet  appears ;  and  behind  are  seen  three  small  books 
shut,  inscribed  with  the  names  of  Priscianus,  Diomedes,^ 
and  Donatus.  Beneath  all  sure  engraven  these  words :  Me-* 
morio)  Thomae  Bodley  Militis,  Publicae  Bibliotfaecae  funda- 
toris,  sacrum.  Obiit  28  Jan.  1612. 
«  Dr.  John  Morris,  canon  of  Christ-church,  bequeathed  by 
jlis  will  to  the  university  iive  pounds  per  annumy  for  a 
sp)^ecb  to  be  made  by  a  master  of  arts  in  praise  of  sir  Tho* 
jpas  Bodley ;  the  person  who  made  the  speech  to  be  no*- 
n^inated  by  the  dean  of  Christ-church,  and  confirmed  by 
the  vice^chancelor  for  the  time  being.  But  this  gift  was 
jDot  to  take  place  till  the  death  of  Dr.  Morrises  widoW; 
which  happening  in  November,  1681,  the  annuity  then 
fell  to  the  university,  and  the  year  following.  Dr.  John 
Fell,  dean  of  Christ-church,  nominated  Thomas  Sparke, 
A.  M.  of  his  college ;  who,  being  approved  by  the  vice- 
chancellor,  made  a  solemn  speech  in  the  schools,  the  8th 
of  November,  1682.  This  is  continued  annually  on  the 
day  when  the  visitation  of  the  library  is  made.  His 
statutes  ^  for  the  regulation  of  the  library  were  translated 

*  The  original  copy  of  Hiem,  writ-  attend   in  the  library   from  eight  to 

ten  by  his  own  hand,  is  preserved  in  eleven  in  the  morning,  and  from  two 

the  archives  of  the  Bodleian  library,  to  four  or  five  in  the  afternooo,  such 

They  provide,  1.  That  the  keeper,  or  days  and  times  only  excepted,  as  are 

librarian,  shall  be  a  graduate,  without  specified  in  the  statutes.     3.  To  pre- 

etire  of  souU,  and  unmarried;  and  that  vent  accidents  from  fire,  neither  the 

lH>th  the  electors,  and  elected,  shall  keeper,  nor  any  person  frequenting 

take  an  oath,  prescribed  in  the  sta-  the  library,  to  be  allowed  candle,  or 

.tutes ;  the  election  to  be  made  after  any  other  kind  of  tight.  '  4.  The  keeper 

the  same  manner  as  in  the  choTce  of  to  deliver  the  books  intothe.hanit  of 

procton.     2.  The  Librarian's  ofiice  is  persons  desiring  them,  to  be  used  in 

to  keep  the   great  register-book,    in  sight,  and  restored  before  such  per- 

;which  are  enrolled  the  names  and  gifts  sons  depart ;  and  nortidokjMkpon  any 

of  all  benefactors  to  the  library^  to  *pretence  whatever,  to  be  lent  out  of 

preserve  the  disposition  of  the  whole,  the  library.    5.  In  case  of  sickneas,  or 

and  to  range  all  books  that  shall  be  other  necessary  ayocatien,  the  keeper 

given,  under  their  proper  classes  j  to  mey:  be  alk>wed  a  d^put/y  who  mult 


B  O  D  L  E  ¥•  A1* 

out'of  English  into  Latin  by  Dr.  John  Biidd«n>  (nrfncipal  of 
Broadgate-hali  (now  Pembroke  college),  and  incorporated 
with  the  university  statutes.  Sir  Thomas  wrote  his  own 
life  to  the  year  1 609,  which,  together  with  the  first  draught  of 
his  statutes,  and  a  collection  of  his  letters,  were  published 
firom  the  originals  in  the  Bodleian  library,  by  Hearne,  under 
the  title  of  '^  Reliquiae  Bodleianse,  or,  soroe  genuine  re*- 
mains  of  sir  Thomas  Bodley,"  London,  170S,  8vo.  Of 
this  we  have  availed  ourselves  in  the  preceding  account, 
to  which  something  must  jiow  be  added  from  subsequent 
information.  .It  is  not  easy  to  quit  the  history  of  a  man  to 
whom  literature  is  so  exceedingly  indebted,  and  who  can- 
not be  contemplated  without  veneration,  not  only  by  the 
i^fis  of.  Oxford,  but  by  every  one  who  has  profited  by 
access  to  the  invaluable  library  which  will  hand  his  name 
down  to  the  latest  posterity.  .  . 

In  Dr.  Birch's  Memoirs  of  the  rmgn  of  queen  Elizabetfay 
there  are  extracts  of  several  letters  written  by  sir  Thomas 
Bodley  to  the  earl  of  Essex,  the  lord  treasurer  Burghley^ 
sir  Robert  Cpcil,  and  Mn  Anthony  Bacon,  chiefly  during 
sir  Thomas's  residence  in  Holland.  From  these,  there- 
fore, and  from  other  passages  in  that  work,  we  shall  select 
a  few  particulars,  which  may  serve  to  render  the  account 
of  his  life  somewhat  more  complete.  In;  1583,  when  Mr. 
Stafford  (afterwards  sir  Edward  Stafford  )>  was  appointed 
ambassador  to  France,  it  was  said  that<  Mr.  Bodley  was  to 

he  a  graduate,  and  take  the  same  oath  altermg  any  wqrd  or  passage  of  any 
as  the  keeper  did  at  his  admission.  He  book  or  books,   to    be  publicly  de- 
it  allowed  likewise  an- assistant  in  his  graded,  and- expelled  the  university, 
office,     and     an     inferior    atten4ant  8.  £ight  ov^seers   or  visitors  of  the 
(usually  some  poor  scholar)  to  keep  library  are  appointed,  viz.  the  vice- 
'the  -  library  dean.     6.   The   revenue  chancellor  and  proctors,  the  three  pro- 
Mttled  for  the  maintenance  of  the  li-  fessors  of  divinity,  law,  and   physic» 
brary,  &c.  to  be  jodged  in  the  univer*  and  the  two  regius  professors  of  He* 
sity  chest,  and  managed  by  the  vice-  brew  and  Greek,  who  are  to  inspect 
chancellor  and  proctors^  for  the  time-  the  statd  both  of  the  boilding^'  and  the 
.being.    7.  None  to  enjoy  the  freedom  books,  the   behaviour  of  the  keeper, 
of  study  there,   but  only  doctors  and  &c.  annually  on  the  8th  of  November; 
licentiates  of  the  three  faculties,  ba-  and,  on  the  visitation-day,  forty  shil* 
«h«|ors  of  divinity,   masters  of  arts,  liogs  is  allowed.to  .be  expended  aah 
bachelors  of  physic  and  law,  and  ba-  dinner  or  supper  for  the  visitors,  and 
chelors  of  arts  of  two  years  standing ;  gloves  to  be  presented  them  by  a  bea« 
;alip  lords,. and  the  sons  of- members  of  die,  viz.  seven  pair,  of  ten  shillings 
parliament,    and  those   who  become  the  pair,   to  the  five  professors  and 
benefactors  to  the  library  '*,   and    all  two  proctors,  and  one  pair,  of  twenty 
•nch^  before  admission  to  such  privi-  shillings  price,  to  the  vice-chancel lof; 
^edge,  to  take  an  oath,  prescribed  in  besides  forty  shillings    in  money  tQ 
the  Statutes.     7.    Any  graduate,  or  each  of  the  proctors,  and  twenty  no», 
'Other  person,  who  shall  be  convicted  bles  to  the  vtce-chan'cellor;  &c. 
j0i  difinembering,    or   purloining,  or  > 


480  BOD  L  KY. 

go  wiUtbiai  as  chief  f£cre);8try;  I^ut no eyidence tppe^rp* 
of  his  haying  actually  .8erTe4  the  ambassador  in  that  c»p9jh> 
city.  The  letters  ,W6  have  ^0|pntiQi\ed  esibibita  fa;rdbei( 
pcoof  of  the  fidelity  and  dil^g^^nce  svith  ii^ich^he  dischargpd. 
his.dutyi  in  the  management  .of  .qaeisn:£li^<^^^'s  aflSskisi^ 
in  the.  United  Provinces.  .As  some  of  the  fac^-the4'0l|iii% 
relate;  ;tO|  are  too  minute  to  require  a  particular  <disQU|sj|09:; 
in  this  place,  it  may  be  su.fficienl^to.irefexgeneraliy  to^Di^N: 
Birch's  Memoirs,  »  One  principal  business  of.  Mr.  Bodley 
in  Holland,  was  to  obtain  sM^ction  &9li^.tl]ie;..l^tat^«i 
General>  for  certain  sums  of  ffioriey  due  fr6in.thea|i.|p<tb^i 
queen,  for  the  expence  sihe  had  been  ^,  4n  assistuif  fai4s 
supporting  their  republic;  andihQughhai^pn4uRlted:^iy^,^ 
self  in  thi^  i^egociation  with;  hUt  usua^  ^U^^y^fai^L  49  g94f):> 
neral,  gave  high  satis&ctipp  to  W  •  may^fity^  yejt  norp^Mo 
greatly  displeased  her,  by  returnuig  l4),i^pgUnd^ .in.iH'4tt8 
tQ  Iky  before  her,  a  secret  proposition,  from  some  leacUn^^o 
members  of  the  States^  relative  to.  the  paymenJto.  demoidfQ^ 
In  a  .letter,  written  to  .tb^  queen  on  the  L4th  of  Aff^y:: 
15d5^.jusutjkfterW.x:e|;!eirn,.  he  inclosed  thfn  substao4;e.{9^\ 
tbeir  oyeirtUT^,  iand.aUege4  tha  rea^u^is  p^  bi^  .own  cofQipie^^ 
over  in  person,  to  be  the  winmng ;  of  time,  thi^  cl^ari^  ^il 
doubts,  and  the  framing  of  the  overture- filUytpebef  a|tiri.?. 
jesty's  satisfaetion.  Nevertheless,  the  queen  continu^sea 
exasperated  with  the^prc^posal  brought  by  bun,  thaJt  on  tli9,  > 
24th  of  May^ .  he  wijpiie.  to  Mr..  Anthppj  Bjacpn,  that  be  had  : 
not  stirred  abroad  for  tpn,  days, past,  ^r  knew  when  he  i 
should,, , since  be  ^yf  jq^  Ijittle.l^pe  of  better  usagf^  a^  , 
court;  <<  where,'^  says  he,  'M  hear. for  nay  cpnotfort^.tbiBtii 
the  queen  on  Monday  li^st^did  wish  I,  had  b^en  bangj^d*.  ; 
And  if  withal  I  might  Ibua^e  leaver .th^t|,i|hould  b^>4isoU 
charged,  I  would  say,  Benedetto ,  si  el  HwtvnOf  el  Ideu^  ^  > 
VAnno^^  However,  at  liqngth,  Mr>  Bpdiey  was  sent  back  1 
to  the  HiE^ne,  with  new  instructional  ;^o  4^9iaud  pf.  t^!^ 
States  a  hundred  thousand  pounds  in  rpfBtdy.^pney,  .au|4  ^. >. 
protect,  that,  if  they  jjrould  npv  now  deternU^e.^tp^^igftm..^ 
her  majesty  such  an  aoawer,  as  she  might  ^nd*  they  ^mI  \ 
some  feeling  of  her  .mapifold  deserts  md  pr^isenit  n^cessi*  < 
ties,  she  would  not  only  revoke  Jher  succours  from  theme 
with  all  expedition,  but/  make  her  grievances  knoVn  by  . 
some  public,  decl^rration^  whereby  the  w>rld  might  take 
notice  of  their  want  of  conscience  in  their  dealing.  •  But 
not  being  able  to'  bring  the  States  to  a  comj^iance  «^  . 


BODCEYI  4tl 

tfie  tHriiis  insisted  iiponi;  be  wsul,  wtiuk^^  btnihimnieitr  u> 
effect  the  very  same  project,  which  he  had  before  c^ntteob 
to  Eugland,  and  for  i?biofa  he  had  eiximted^  so  il|uohlbit- 
teroeat  an4  grief;  and  in  <eonclosibn  h^bfougktifthealciiM) 
these  terms :  that  they  would  consent  to  al  disefasnfe  off thW 
auxiliary  entertainments,  which  would  e»e>heir' majesty  ot 
at  least  forty  thousand  pownds  a  ycar^:  npon  cond^iiifiB 
that  her  intention  might  be  known  two  mimbs  befoier;>«ti> 
make  an  annual  presentation  of  tw^ii^/tbdcwandijb'oinidk^ 
te  be  paid  every  time  by  pnbUc  legation  ontiher  ma^tjti 
birtb-»day ;  but  not  to  be  continued  beyond  her  reign  r  to 
assiat  ker  majesty,  if  tbere^should  beooeasionV  widb  their 
flipping  and  other  sea-provisions,  and  to  codae  to  no  ius)> 
cotd  or  pacification  with  the' Spaniakrd^  unless  wikh  her 
tccmseot ;  and  to  discharge  the  sum  of  four  hundred  thcni*' 
sand  pounds  in  four  year9,  but  pay  able  only  to  her  majesty's 
person.  ^ 

Among  the  other  aids  whibh  sir  Thotnas  Bodtey  received  j 
in  hi^  noble  design  of  cestbring^  the  iiuUicjhhrary  at  Ox« 
ford,  his  great  friend^  the  earl  of  Essex^  made'hima' pre- 
sent of  a  considerable  part  of  the  very  valuable  library  that 
bad  belonged  to  the  celebrated 'J^iroip^  Osorius,  succes- 
sively bishop  of  Sylvas,  and  of  Algarva,  in  which  last  see 
he  died  in  1580.  This  Itferary  had  fallen  to  the  earl's 
shal'e,  stmong  the'  bpgty  wjbic)^  had  be^n  taken  in  the  fa^ 
meus  expedition  against  Cadis, 'in  1596;'  King  James  I: 
likewise,  enriched  th^.  ^dlteitfh  library  at  Oxford  at  the 
expence  of  hiai  own  i  for  he  gave  a  wamant  to  sir  Thomas 
Bodley,  under  the  privy  seal,  for  atiy  books,  wbich  that 
gentlenian  should  Uk^  in  any  of  his  bouses  or  libraries^ 
However,  his  ma^esty>  amply  supplied  this  lbss>  by  piir* 
chasing'  ford  Lumley*s  library,  which  contained  not  only 
bis  own  collection,  but  that  of  >bts  fatber*in«law,  Henry 
Fits^Aten,  earl  <)f  Aruildel,  wtto'had  lived  in  the  reign  of 
king  Hei^ry  th§  eighth^  when,  upon  the  dissolution  of  the 
monastericn,  he  Iwl  great  oppbrtunities  of  collecting  ma- 
nuscripts.' Many  of  these  manuscripts,  as  w^ll  as  of  the 
printied'boQks  in  the  Royal  library,  have  the  name  of  Arun-> 
del  9,iiA  Lumley  written  in  them ;  and  now  constitnte  a  part 
of  the  noble  collection  iipi  the  British  Museum.  In  Heame's 
**  Johannis  Glastonienais  Historia  de  Rebus  Giastoniensi* 
bus,"  are  two  tetters  to'  sit  Robert  Cotton,  which  pecii-^ 
liarly  belong  to  this  article,  al  one  of  tb^  gave  rise  to 

Vol.  V.  I  I 


4»  uan  u  E'Yi 

a>JTtojrninMimlopix;!Fe)iO  fohitd  xkl  Hie 

-liVtrimgh  sif  Thiwl8&;BQdle]»'if  dJosign^i.iki  r^^foimding'tbe 
|Mibb»Jibtatgir>etJOKfQrd,  :yras«is9  eKdaUentan^  Useful,'  and 
hiiiiBeqi^patltiBg>  his  estate  '&dj^»t  pnrposeUo  eommeiida-^ 
l^le,  "soiBeipesiQii&'i^ere.  diasatitfiediatitfaeir'not  being  re* 
al^Biiiibeciod  b}rjhimiiD  his  lafitwiUi  This^  zt  least,  liras  the 
case^viflftiMrJjClnfnfaierlayaeviwhbyitboagh  not  a  relation 
9fi>sfaoTti0inBsl8v  y^liairing  bad' a^  Jong  acquaintance  widi 
hios^u^anplainaoof  fais^oond^iitiw^i^^tb^no  snutlL  degree  of 
walignity^  *  JI^  8ays<that:sir  nShomasJ^odJey  wiis  so  batvied 
am^  tttth  tbeivaiti^'atid  vaiagioryi  offhis'Ubnvy^^diat  be 
foflgot  dM  othev  resj^ect^  and!  chitjest  almost  oFoonsevenoe^ 
fiddndidbip,''i^ob'igQOd  iaature^it  Mri^Chamberiaysife  s^su^her. 
obsecves,'  as  laiiother  hrgomenti  of.)|ir^ThomiiB^s<  vanity,  ^that 
hWl>a4'{Vvxittenlii^<iovm  life  aau^^ea- sheets  of  papery  net 
leaving  out  the  least  minuteness,  or  omitting  any  thing 
(bat jsigbt  tendf  tonbia  own  .^ofy  j6r  ^ommenoation ;  and 
thai)  he  ba^^iicit^ao^^impQb'as.iiiade'flieisftiQtn  of* bis  wifi|^  of 
tbAtilffifiKa8:itaararied').''i'b^  Kvbinb  ifc)n4|[ht  be.  aeen  what  d 

*  ".SirT»QViAs3pDL^y  tdSir.     ,       ,.  f  And,  rfoiemJber.  /  giat  you  fturt 
-•'•■^''  •  •      Rob  JVr^biiV  '  '  ^ ,       :"  Umgrmt  if  you  h^Pdny  bovfce  s'9 
<«:Stry^I  iML«thrice:tol«tfatteei/yob':  idMie,iiti>  ^th^t' you  wx&dhee  huth  A 

will 


as 

f^r  miHDi.to  furrish  t^^ftiyeqi^y .l^|. ,,t^t||Kllti^i|h9aWiitvt)iif;  better  Iw  ia 
bracy,  whers  I  pwpose,  9s4.^Mnx.  ,p\^S^i  Mflbosid^  jou.wbuJd  account 
tA-jJade'  air  the  books'lhat  X  hatfe  Hf-T  -ih^^if linipry  man.  But,  to  teave  jesU 
UNatU'^^atheradJlirUiiMft  !thMe.  thrcej  'jA^,'!«A  ^limti^  •P4lieiday«s  oofAeto 

conferr  for  the  storing  of  it,  -such  order  own  in  yout4ifJon  pouser^  f^^^^U.  ^^  reUine 
ii^tttteB'for  aH«ie%ttridriil  t>f  his  t^,V'^  ^i^^V^^^k ;%,  'Wi:  f  *  havd 


^sirP|iiKia^^i.%^«q?^wwi.:i;i'  y,.^..^  ifw,^'«isdie„dR*ffieVTm;- 

•"  9iVr  if  lia^fe^'tt^de'l^.^odfey  /ari*'^^*'"*^'.**'*^^*'^**^^^*^*'^''^*'* 


offef,    lybpi  acfeptet)!,  ^ 

thailkfal^anner ;  'abd  iT  it  P»easeth;':™;«?j;;;«!7?'S^^^^ 

y^ tb  <({^Milt  to^mMiWit  afte^rt»ot^,»2i  jw**^*^™^';'.***^  >vi4«lt5  ^J**^"* 


hottie  fgr  that  porpoie 


B  O'D  LEY*  48i 

mnd  he  carried,  and  what  account  he  ixiacle' of  his  beiSt 
benefitctors.  It  is  easy  to  perfceive,  that  the^e  reflections 
are  cbidly  the  result  of  spleen  and  disappoirttmerit.' 

It  would  inequireavolume  t6  ehumerate thfe  mahy  iibportdht 
additions  made  to  the  Bodleian  library  b;f  its  numerous  be- 
nefactors; or  to  give  ereh  a  superficial  sketch  of  its  ampl^ 
contents  in  every  branch  of 'science.  Aniohg  the  ^arlifesi 
benefactors  were,  Robert  Dtevereux',  earl  df  Osex ;  ThoniaS 
Sackville^  lord  Buckhufst'and  earl  of  D6r^et ;  Robert  Sid- 
ney, lord  Sidney  of  Penshurst;  viscoiihtl  Lisle  and  earl  5f 
Leicester ;  George  C^rey,  lord  Hunsdon ;  Williani  Gent; 
^q.  5  Anthony  Brown^j  viscJonnt  Mi!)nta?^ute  i  John  lord 
Lumley;  Philip  Sctidambre, '  of  Lohdbn, 'e^. ;  and  Law^i 
ren<je  Bodley,  youttget  brother  to  the  fotrfidei*. '  All  the^^ 
coritribntions  Were  made  before  the  ycai*  1600.  In  160  f,' 
collections  of  book«  and'  maiinscripts  w^re'  presented  Vy 
Thomas  Allen,  some  time  fellow  of  Trihi'ty  college;  Th^ 
itias  James,  first  librariart;  Herbert  We^tphkling,  biihdfJ 
af  H^eford ;  sir  John  Fortiescue,  kiit ;  AtexSLrider-NoN^ll^ 
diean  of  St.  PaiiPs ;  John  (Brooke,  recordi^i*  of  London,  aiid 
chief  justice  of  the  Common  Pleas;  •and'^Nicholas  Bondy 
D.D:  president  of  Magdalen  college.  The  ihost  extensive 
and  prominent  Collections,  howeverj  fi^i'^e  thosii  of  the  earl 
of  Pembtokej  Mr.  Selden,  archbishop  Laud,  sir  Thomas 
Roe,  sir  Kenelm  Digby,  general  Fairfax',  Dr.  Marshall^  Dr; 
Barlow,  Dn  Rawlihson,  Mr.  St.  Am^fcd,  l)f.  Tanner,' Mrt 
Browne  Willis,  T.  Hear ne,  and  Mr.  (jodwin.  The  last 
collection  bequeathed,  that  of  the  latfe  eminent  and  learned^ 
antiquary,  Richard  Gough,  esq.'is  perhaps  the  most  peri 
feet  series  of  topographical  science  ever  formed,  and  ri 
particularly  rich  ih  topographical  manuscripts,  prihtsi'draiir- 
ings,  and  books  illustrated  by  the  mahuscript  notes  of  emfi 
Bent  antiquaries.  '  Sintle  1780,  a  fund  of  mbre  than  40<!)f! 
a  year  has  been  esablished  for  th6  purchase  of  booTcs| 
This  arises  from  a^  small  addition  to  the  matriculation  fee^^' 
and  a  moderate  contribution  annually' from  such  members 
of  the  Univerrity  as  are  adniitted  to  the  use  of  the  library^ 
or  on  their  taking  therr  first  degree.  ^  ' 

BODLEY  (Laurence),  a  younger  brother  of  sir  Thci^ 
mas  Bodleyi  and,'  as  already  noticed,  a  berief^tor  to  his 
library,  #as  born  in  the  city  of  Exeter,  about  the  year 
1*546,    'After  a  suitable  education,  though  in  what  school 

'i»Reliqai«  Bodleianae. — Gen.  Dret. — Biog.  Britann. — ^Prince's  Worthies  of 
I>eyoD.— Wood's  Ath*  ¥oU  I.— «od  Annals  by  Gutch.— Chalmers's  Hist,  of  Oxford, 

I   I   2 


4ti  dODLrr, 

is  hot  known^  he  was  sent  to  Cinist-dhurchHsdllegelii'  Oii^ 
ford,  where  he  took  the  degrees  of  bttctidov  and  Pilaster  ^ 
arts/*  From  thence  he  removed  into  his  tiathre  countacj^ 
where  his  merit  became  so  cooapicuoilft/  that  fie  ^Upasmtfji^ 
one  of  the  canons  residentiary  of  ^  Exetfer  cathedt^/^  And 
rector  of  SHiobroke,  about  seven  miles  Irom^that  cbjif^pilMr 
Crediton.  He  was  chief  mourner  at  hiB^brothef'Sfuiidi^l^ 
and,  March  30,  161$,  was  treated  docnsor  in  divinity )'«»>« 
member  of  Cbrist-cburch. '  He  died  A{>ril  the  l9thi'U615^ 
in  the  seventieth  year  of  his  nge^  and'was*  interred  -in  Sill 
Peter's  cathedral  in  Ei^eter,  near  the  didir,'vndei'a^^flat 
marble  stone,  with  aett  epitaph.*  As  to  his  efaaracter;  we 
are  told,  that  for  his  piofus  seal,  and  cbntimial  }abour  iA 
the  faithful  cfischai^e  of  the  duties  of  his  ftmcuoa^nbe  eapi^ 
not  be  over-praised,  and  that  he  was  of  an-  hospitabie'dispo^ 
sition,  very  charitable,  and  pious:'' In  hisi'Wi^,*'he'  bi»- 
queathed  to  the  mayor  aird  chafiibe^  >of  Exeter,-  foar4nsii^ 
dred  pounds  in  money,  t6  purchase  t^vetity  pound*  a  year 
in  lands^  towards  the  nlaintenance  of  a  jkeacher  ii%  cfaat 
city.  There  is  nothing* '^  his  ivririfng'extan^  efieeptiali 
elegy  on  the  death  of  the  Atmoils'bii^p^rJeweVlflieftddaik 
Humphrey's  life  of  that  p^^late/  I^.^^hn  Priil«biiirj  ^y^ 
gius  professor  of  divinity  and  rector  o£  E;il^r  bolfege^'ltoi' 
dicated  an  act  sermon  to  him,  and^ckubwiedj^sTtahuMMf 
indebted  to  him  for  some  preferment.  PrideltaK  entered 
Exeter  college  as  a  poor  servitor^  and  probably  was  theft 
indebted  to  Dr.  Bodley  for  Ms  advaii^echeni.^  '  ,     > 

BODLEY^(Sir  Josiiks),  youingest  brother  to  sir  Thomaa 
Bodley,  was,  in  all  pfrobabiiity,  born  at  Ex:eter,  afer  well^sia 
his  brothers.  He  was  bred  up  a  scholary  and  ^nt:$o^ 
time  in  Mertoo-college  in  Oxford ;  but'^eferring  ^  mili^ 
tary  to  a  studious  life,  he  served  in  the-  Low-countries^ 
which  was  then  the  theatre  of-  war,  and  behaved  so  welL 
that  he  was  advanced  to  the  degree^ef  a  captain.  Itv  1 598, 
be  was  sent  into  Ireland,  with  severjtl  old  companies  i^ 
English  out  of  the  Netherlands,^  amounting  in  all  to  above 
;«  thousand  men,  of  which  he  was- second  captain.^  ^^herd 
he  signalized  himself  by  his  valour  aikl>'<ionduet : '  aisd  was, 
at  the  taking  of  the  fsle  of  Loghrorbaii ;  at  the  attack  of 
Castle-Ny  park ;  and  at  the  sieg^' of  Kinsale,  in  i60t» 
wh^re  he  was  overseer  Of  the  treiitches,  as  he  was  also  at 
the  sieges  of  Baltimore,  Berchi^aven,  and  Cas^havml» 


JIO  D  LEY;  *f? 

^wf'wfaiclh  and  other  serrices,  he  was>lwgb^  by  the 
lord*  deputy  •  Chichester.     He  was  living  in  Irelapd  in  th« 
y.ear  1613,  when  he  was  director-genera),  and,ov;i8rseer  of 
«he  fortifications  of  that  kingdom,  but  the  time  of  his  death 
jaaot  known.     He  wrote  <<  Observations  concerning  the 
ftmtremeB  of  Ireland,  .and  the  Briti^ih  colonies  of  Ulster,'! 
mM&  onte  in  the.  library*  of  sir  J^meft  Ware,  and  after<- 
iirards  in  that  of  Henry  lord  Clai^ndon,  and  **  A  Jocular 
|)escription  of  a  Journey, tah^n  by  bim  to  Locale  in  Ulstert 
m\fi02^^^  abpo  in  manuscript.  ^  ;  i      i.  r 
:u  BODMER  (John  Jaums),  a  vo^iiini^oiis  winter,  and  one 
o£  the  revivers  .of  JiiterAtur€|,i9  Qerofvany,  waslKHiiat  Zuf 
xicb»Julyl9,  I6d8,  and  notwitji^tandingbis  fether's  de^ 
4sign  lo  bring  btin  Vip  t)o  the  churob^  or  for  .trade,  he  K^med 
Jmai' for  the  sdeo^j^s,  and  .pM(tiGialarly  the.beilea  li^ttres. 
Be  0onc»led  his  dislike,'  however,  for,,  the. ministry,  uptil 
the  time  when  he  might. have  bec^  adfn^^^ted)  aud  then  de- 
dined  proceeding  aay  farther,  .  His  falibf^rrtbeniVifquld  have 
him  pursue  trade,  and  in.  nit  iWl»t  tom/t^^ 
>that  purpose.    Tfaia  belpg  ot ed^rse.f^^;  difiagrees^ie  to^bi^ 
MM  thestudy  of/dlviniljyi  'beiX^orn^d  boi?s§  S^^J^  t^Q  yes^r% 
bill  prediteelioh.  for  fi^etxy  gr^iyiisig.  more  and  moi^e  iipon 
i»m^ .  OtHd's  iMe.t4iftprph4^es,  a  translation  of  which  f^U  in 
jbis^wsy,  .-filled  hii  head  with  poetical  imager,   and  the 
English  Spectator  formed  bis  mora)%  while .  be  pt]Lid|^4  bi^ 
l>btlosophy  in  fiayle  and  Mopitai^e. ..  The  G<^m^,  lan- 
guage was  at  tills  time,  in >:»^  b|ffhaf|0|usi'iBt9te  jf'jlimrat^r^^fiyas 
4U;  a  low  ebb,  and  the  pedantic  studies  of  t^e^sQhc^^^ere 
,^iiot  to  the  liking  of  su^  a  yeujth  aa.  Bodmer-    4inding,^9« 
i^ngj.  therefore, I. to  |iead  in  bis  o«rn  J^togunge,  .he,  confined 
himself  to. the-djassi^s  of  antiqiiity,  .>and  gave:iip  ey^iy 
jother  employment,  e^^ceptthe  ^tudy /of  the  history  and.pa- 
Jiitifis  of  Swisseidand*    .  In  hUtory ^  Js^weyer,  be  looked  onl^ 
Jhr  meih  manners,  aBd;language.;   and  was  desirous  i^f 
^^formingjfrom  it «  systems  of  psyobdpgy*    .  ^^ 

:•  .Jto.  1737  be  W9a  dec^d  aijoqember  of  .the  gr9^ld^1CquI)c^l 
if>t  ZuncH^f.ljf^t  thia  ,exdted/iq,  Ambition.  H^ayipg,  Ip&t  b^ 
duldren,  he  i^u^ed  ^very .  kind  of  fcivil  prpniotipo^.  anpl 
tookas.mu]ch  painiitta.aiVoid.  as  others,  da  to  pro9.un^,<#Y^h 
^honours.  Hi^  okgect  was  .to  reform  the  tasteof  hi^-cpi^ntry, 
•and  with  this  view,  fpe  many  yesfs  ^.bi^rWritipgi^vK^e  pf 
jdidaptio  and  critical  kind.    Iq.lT^l  be  wd^^itii^r 

1  fijQI^*  firit«*p>i;riBee's  W<tfi^efrof  JOf^rop* 


486  B  O  D  M  E  R. 

made  their  first  appearance  in  the  republic  of  letters,  hy  d 
periocKcal  paper,  in  the  manner  of  tue  English  Spectator; 
to  which  they  gave  the  title  of  the  "  Painter  of  Manners," 
and  ivhich  contributed  in  a  very  great  degree  to  the  refor- 
ihation  of  style.     This  was  followed  by  many  other  works, 
which  procured  Bodmer  the  high  character  of  the  restorer 
of  the  German  language,  criticism,  and  poetry.     He  pub- 
lished also  various  pieces^  relative  to  the  history  of  Swisser* 
land,  the  greater  part  of  which  appeared  in  the  Helvetic 
Bibliotheque,  and  have  since  been  inserted  in  the  supple- 
ment of  Lauffer's  history  of  Swisserland.     In  1748  and 
1758,  he  and  his  former  colleague  Breitinger  re-published 
many  pieces  of  German  poetry  of  the  thirteenth  century  : 
Bodmer  aiso  translated  some  old  English  ballads,  and  pub- 
lished the  poetry  of  Opitz  with  critical  remarks.     All  these 
contributed  essentially  to  the  refinement  of  German  taste 
and  style ;  bnt  Bodmer  reached  his  fiftieth  year  before  he 
became  himself  a  poet     He  had  hitherto  b'een  terrified  at 
the  restraint  which  rhime  imposes,  and  made  no  attempt 
of  the  kind,  until  Klopstock,  by  introducing .  hexameters, 
opened  the  way  to  ease  and  variety.     Bodmer  had  studied 
Milton  and  Klopstock,  and  as  he  was  the  son  of  a  clergy- 
man, and  once  destined  for  the  church,  this,  and  a  desire 
to  tread  in.  the  steps  of  these  illustrious  predecessors,  de- 
termined him  to  choose  a  subject  from  the  Bible.     Per- 
haps, says  his  biographer,  his  creative  powers  suggested 
to  him  the  patriarchs  instead  of  the  Achilleses  and  iEneases. 
Hitherto  his  pen  had  not  touched  oii  a  national  subject,  nor 
could  he  find  any  creative  fund  in  national  history.     Ani- 
mated therefore  by  the  genius  of  Milton,  he  ventured  to 
write  an  epic  in  an  age  in  which  the  poetic  fire  appeared  to 
be  extinguished.     His  hero  was  Noah,  who  having  sur- 
vived the  destruction  of  the  first,  became  the  father  of  a 
new  race  of  men.     Bodmer,  by  charging  this  new  genera- 
tion with  the  crimes  of  all  ages,  rendered  his  poem  at 
once  moral  and  political,  and,  under  the  title  of  the  ^  Noa* 
chide,"  it  was  printed  at  Zurich,  1752,  1765,  and  1772. 

His  other  works  were,  a  German  translation  of  Milton, 
Zurich,  1769;  and  of  Homer,  ibid.  1769;  of  Apollonius 
Hhodius,  ibid.  1779 ;  Collections  for  the  history  of  the  Allies, 
ibid.  1739  ;  Dissertation  on  the  wonderful  in  poetry,  1749; 
Critical  observations  on  portraits  in  poetry ;  Letters  on 
Criticism;  A  collection 'of  all  his  smaller  epic  poems,  en- 
titled Calliope ;  A  collection  of  critical  and  poetical  works^ 


Old  German  Bards,  .175^8,  /He  ^IsQi  wrote  iparQdieftTj^fta 
Lessing's  Fables, .. aijdt^e  Tiagediesi  oft  Wm^^  hQ^iYi^^t 
iaferior  to  bis  othen  wprk^*  lnJ7^7;Vhi^^  *^  Noah.'fi  wal 
/trausl?i|ed.by  Mr.  .Collier,  atid  parjtaHe?  of  all  .therfauit^iof 
such  compositions  ^s  the  "  Death  of  Ab^l."  Bpdmjeir's 
great  fault,  indeed,  was  th^t  .inSated  a|;id  boiDbast-. style, 
which.  <ha3  been  $ince  his  tiraeso  popular  in  Germany,' laud 
which,  in  the  dramatic  form,,  some  years,  ago^  tbreatettied 
to  debase  the  taste  of  this. country.  Hi$  Imagination  ib 
fertile, ,  gmd  occasionally,  bursts  into  something^  like  sub*- 
linfiity,  but  is  ;:arely  under  the  guidance- pfjudgmei^tc^lr 
taste.;  Haying  something  of  .both,  however,;  at  the,  time 
hi^  countryman  bad. neither,  he  canflot.be  denied  thfe 
jUierit  of  giving  a  more  favourable  direction  to  theur  Muf- 
diesi ;  but  it  was  his  oasfortune  to  acquire  fame  when  there 
was. none  to  dispute  it;  and  as  his  country  increased  in  its 
QUmberof  scholars  and  critics.,  he  in  vain, endeavoured  to 
praser.ve  his  super,iority  by  beinrg  jealous  pf  rising  merite. 
The  fir^t  critic  when  German  criticism  was  in  its  infaacy, 
he  would  also  be  .the  first  when  she  was  advailced  to  ma- 
|;urity ;  but  he  oudiyed  hi^  authority,  and  was  no  longer 
the  first,  although  he  might  rank  among  the  best..  He  died 
Js^q.  2,    1783> 

,  BOpCLER  (John. Henry),  an  eminent  German  critic 
land  historian,  and  counsellor  to  the  emperor  and  •  to  the 
elector  of  Mentz,  wasborn  in  16H,  at  .Cxonheim.in  Fran>. 
^pia,  and  was  during  a  Ipng  life  reputed  one  of  the  ablest 
men  Germany  bad  produced,  particularly  in  Greek,  Latin, 
aod  Hebrew,  in  history,  and  political  and  legal  know«- 
}edge.  He  was  only  twenty  when  thought  worthy  of  being 
appoii?ted  professor  of  eloquence  at  Strasburgh,  and  in 
1.640  was  made  a  canon  of  St.  Thomas.  Christina,  queen  of 
Sweden,,  invited  him  to  Upsal  in  1648,  to  be  professor  of 
eloquence,  and  the  following  year  conferred  on  him  the 
place  of  historiographer  of  Sweden,  with  a  pension  of  eight 
hundred  crowns,  which  she  generously  continued  when 
his  health  obliged  him  to  return  to  Strasburgh.  He  was 
then  elected  professor  of  history  at  Strasburgh,  and  in 

1  Biog.  Univ. — Meister's  Portraits  des  hommes  illustre^  de  la  Suisse* — BiN 
duisse,  ecc.  Portraits  of  illustrious  Germans.— Crit.  Rev.  vol.  II.  and  Month. 
Kev,  fol,  XIV.  N.  S.^Saxii  Onomast. 


4Sft  B  O  E  €  -L  £  R. 

14^^  the  alitor  of  Bf entz  appmate^  him  his .  e^m»tikit* 
The  year  after,  the  emperor  Ferdinapid  III.  bestowed  (be 
sa/me  faonoqr  upon  him,  with  the  title  of  count  Pahifine. 
Louis  XIV.  offered  him  a  pensiojgi  pf  ^wo  thousand  UvfeSf 
%ut  the  court  of  Vienna,  unwilling  ta  l^se  bioi)  iadoefld 
him  to  djecline  it^  and  made  up  his  loss  by  antHberpensioki 
of  six  hundred  rix-doUacs.  Boeder^  honoured  and  cnt- 
riched  by  so  many  favours,,  pursued  hisr.fitujdi^s  with  uoWr 
Imitting  ardour,  until  biji  death  in.  l^9a-i  He  pi^shed 
with  notes  or  commentaries,,  editip^is  G^^Hero^ian, -Straa- 
burgh,  1644,  Syo;  Suetonius^  ibid.  1647,i.4to;  ManiUm^ 
ibid.  1655,  4to;  Terence^  ibid,..  1^^7,>  ^vp,}  C^trp^iis 
Nepos,  Utjecbt,  1 665,  ifitfioi  Pqiybius,  .vl 6^^  r A6J7.Q, 
1681,  4to;  part  of  l^citi^s,  VelWiiM  Pa^rQuJt^  Vii^y 
fiterodotus,  aod  Ovid.  His  other .  y^ ojrlis'!  iWfp^ ;:  :1  /  ^ J3^ 
Jure  Gailias  in  Lotharingiaai,''^.SU'a^{NKgbi.  i^^^^  4li$.A 
refutation  of  tl^e  treatis^^  oa4he  r^^bfs  c^^he  F^reoeb  idt^ 
to  Lorraine.  2.  ^^|  Ai^tationes  in  H?|pS>Qlytvi{i|  aXapid^^^* 
ibid.  1 674^  ^4t6,  a  refqtation  of  the  work  ^ti4.ed  ''*  Se  m- 
tio^e  status  ,iqa  CheKmiie  or 

jTames  de  Steinberg,  S...<^^I>isfei;ta|4^.  de  .spripi^onbw 
GrsBois^et  t,»atinis,  ah  Hom€^o,i)aq$ie^a4 i^it^linicXVi^^ae* 
cqIi,''  ibid.  1674,  8yo,  and  repainted  by.  (?fP»9v>iiai0ridbi0' 
'tenth  vol.  of  his-  Grepiao  antiquities;  -4^  SS  SiibiiogmpUa 
historico-politico-philologic^'\  lillfx^^yQ*  ^/-  ^*:  HiaUnia 
Belli  Su^o-Panici  aqnis  4$43^^^fS4^'^^  167)6, 

Strasb^fgh,  167^,  8y^,  j^r^t^  jajstorii^  iini^orsalis  ^b  oAe 
con&itoid,J.  Q.Tvm^X^^  *w>  witb.*dia- 


.sertation  on  thi^  i^e  oi  history .  v'7«.  ^^  ^otitinjaeri  uirpefii 
JRomahi^'  ibid.  1^8 1',  Bvo. ,  8.<  An  edition ^Witbuotestittid 
improvements,  of  PjicoIqi^Vi-s.Latiff  bi§tpFy'Of;^Fred.eTic Uf . 
ibid.  168^,    fol.  rej^a^ip^;.l7Q34     9^  V  D^  r^usif^  teciili 
post  Christum  XVI^>.lil(er,  mooaoriaiiS)^*  Kiety  1^97v  ^v<^» 
''10.  ^*  llistoria  univ^f sail?  iy>  ste^ulprum  ppst  Chrtttu«^ 
^1699,,  8voi^  repripted  a^  Rc^o^k,  4tp»  with  a  Jife  >ofi  ihe 
i^utbpr,'  by  X  Theophilus  Mf)Uer.   Ji.  Various.^^  Lal4»BS#* 
in  Jask^s  colIectioD^  Amsterdam,  4795^  ISlmo..  I:ll*o^£)ott« 
^inentatio  in  tjfrotii  librum  de.  jnre  beUi  %p  plK»s»r .  8ti«9* 
l>urgh,  1^05,  1712,  4to.     He  ,was  aasoMientliiiaiaaticad- 
xnir^^  of  Grotius.     13.  f'^iblipgraf4Ma«critiea^^'  Leiptie, 
1715,  ,8vQ^  enlarged  by  J.  Gottlieb  Krause.;  the  fomer 
editfoiis  of  ^his  wpfk  were  very  defective*     J4.  ^  Disaec- 
tationsi  and  sD^aller  piec^"  publish^  by  Jt  £abficiu9^*tk 


B  6  fe  C  L  E  iL  499 

"SMKArafgh/ 17 12,  4  tols.  4t6^'  oti  Witoryj'^pdlTticg,  morali, 
^fJritidwi,  maiiy  of  them  tii'y  valiiabFe.'*^ 
•  '^  aOEHM'(AilTHONV  William)/ minister  of  \the  Ger- 
^mtn  dbapel  W  Si  ^Am^s%  Loiidon,  the  son  of  Anthony 
RcMBima,  iilittUtef' dt'O^storff,  in'Ah'9  county  of  Pyrmonl, 
iff^Oeitaiariy,  *<rhb  died  167^,  wit6  botn  June  1,  1^73,  and 
'Hfterliisfethier^ft  4eatb  wa»  sent  to  School  at  Lemgo,  and 
aHlerwards  €l'  Hamein,  wbeneey  after  making  ph)^ciency 
^ni^  Greek  Md  L^tin,  he  was  removed  to  the  newly-erected 
^imi^rrity^  at  Halle.     Having  finished  the  usual  course  *^  of 
*tlittidieaiiere«' and  taken  orders,  he  was  for  some  time  em- 
>ploye(kis  tutor  to  the  sons  of  noBIemen  arid  gentlemen. 
vAbout^be"  year ''1701,'  some X^erman  families  in  London 
«i^a^st#d  of  the  univef^ity  of  RaOe'  to  send  over  a  proper 
'.^^mon^as  sekOohilalst^r  to  their'  children.,    Boehm  was  ii>- 
^ijidt)  lO'Wcepft-  this-' situataon,  and  arrived  at  London  in 
'MoltrembcnH  of  thIM:  ye^f,'  ithere  bis  first  object  was  to  ac- 
'ifl^etHrfingHsbitaif^u^e;    Iti  17Q2  he  oj>en*ed  a  school 
4ga  iBedfordbury,  but  met \ with  sd  ^Httfe  'encouragement, 
tallliaog>b  inrvitod  hiib^  for  the  ptit^e,  thUt  ;he'  fioiust  have 
J9«kifned  to  bis  OfHi'  cotwitty,  if/;in  lloS,  he  bad  no1;T>eeh 
•^pbiutedby  prince  <PeorgV 'of  ^Betfmai^k,  i|U^en  Arine^s 
JitsbaAd)  tO'b^'o&e  Of'^his'^cMililaii^Sy  and  officiate  at  h(s 
^dfcfpi^^^Whllch  be  did  for  sometime  alternately  with  his 
^ollMgue  Orusids,  and  gave  so  mucrh  satisfaction^  not  only 
to  Ike  priiieey'but  ^tON?  queen,  tfaalt  afte^  ills 'hlghness'3 
'4ledtb,  in  170ft>  Vb^'^uem  drd^^red  the  salme  $ertic^  to  be 
eontinued,  and  gs^  bfrn*  access  to  her  presence,  wliicb 
^Jieu improved  occasionally  iii  Ihe  -promotion  of  acts  of 
'clsBJrfty  and  humanity.     On  one' occasion,  particularly,  by 
.  Uib  intereeiskm;  the  queen  prevailed  on  the  king  of  France 
/jbO' release  many  cji  the  French  Protestants  condemned  to 
.^togalliesfor  religion.    Wheii  king  George  h  caipe  to 
*^l)w^  Clown,  Mr#  Boehm  was  confirmed  in  his  station,  wbtch 
•iUetteld:  to  his  death,- May  27,  1722.     He^^  biiried  in 
'Gaseawich  cburch-yard^ '  Widi  a   character^tic   epibph. 
-H«  ajypeavs'to  have  b\een  a  ilnati^f  unfeigned  and  fervent 
piety,  and  Motiirkftbry  zealous  in  promoting  works  of  piety 
-aad  obarity.  -^  Dn  Watts  tetd  of  faiifi.  that  he  feai-ed  there 
were  but  few  such^men  then  in  En^and,  British  or  Ger- 
man,  J^iscopal  eir  NoD-cohformist.     His  original  works 
ate:  l.  **  Enchiridion  Precum,  cuin  intirodoctione  de  na- 
'|uraChrationis/Vl707y  l71J5f,  8vo.    2.  <^  A  voluihe  of  dis« 

9  Msrerl— iBiof  •  Vni? cn«tt«.  '^Saxii  OnonuuitwoD* 


490  .  iB  0:E^H:Ml  .! 

courses  and  tracts/'  in  E^lisk  9»  ^f  The:du4ly  of  Re^ 
formation,"  1718.  4.  "The  doctrine  of  gaily  sorrow/" 
1720.  .5.  "  Plain  directions ifor  reading. the  Holy  Bible, 
1708^  and  1721.  6.  "Various  pious  tracts^  in  tke  Ger-p 
man  language.  He  also  translared  the  "  Pietas  HaUensis/ 
a  curious  history  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the.  Orphan 
sqhool  at  Halle,  1705 — 6'^7^  and  the  first  "  Account  of 
the  Protestant  mission  at  ^Tranquebar,"  1709«— M,  aomc 
p^rts  of  tlie  works  of  Insbop  Hopkins^  Dr.. Barrow,  &c« 
Amdt's  "  True  Christianity ;"  and  edited  a  Latin  edition 
of  the  same,  and  editions  of  some  otfai^  pious  treatises  :by 
foreign  divines.  He  left  aa  uafioished  history  of  the  re« 
formation  in  England  from  Henry  VUI.  toCharles  11.  and 
some  other  manuscripts. ' 

.  BOEHM  (Andhew),  privy-counsellor  of.  the  landgrave 
of  Hesse,  and  professor  of  mathematics  and  philosophy  at 
Giessen,  was  born  at  Darmstadt,  Mov.  17,  1720,  and  died 
^uly  6,  1790.  As  a  philosopher,  he  adhered  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  Wolf,  .who  had  teen  his  master,  but  in  mathe* 
xnatics  he  followed  and  added' to  the  improvement  of  the 
age,  by  many  useful  and  experimental  ti*eatises.  Hit 
^*  Magazine  for  engineers  and  artillery^men,"  1777—85, 
1 2  vols.  8vo,  procured  him  very  considerable  reputation. 
He  also  wrote,  1.  ^^  Logica,  ordine  scientifico  in  usum 
auditorum  conscripta,"  Francfort,  1749 — 62 — 69,  Sva 
2.  "  Metaphysica,"  Giessen,  1673,  8vo,  and  an  improved 
edition,  1767,  8vo.  He  had  a  considerable  hand  in  the 
'<  Francfort  Encyclopaedia ;"  and,  along  with  F.  K.  Schleicher, 
wrote  the  "  New  Military  Library,"  Marboiirg,  1789 — 9a, 
4  vols.* 

BGEHMEN  (Jacob),  or  BEHMEN,  a  noted  visionary, 
and  founder  lOf  the  sect  of  the  Behmenists,  was  horn  in  a 
village  near  Garlit2,^in  Upper  Lusatia,  1575.  His  edu- 
^ion  was  siuitahte.  to  the  .oircumstances  and  views  of  his 
parents,  who,  designing  hi^  for  a  jnedianic  trade,  took 
him  from  school  as  soon  as  he  conid  read  and  write,  and 
put  him. apprentice,  to  a  shoe-maker.  He  first  began  to 
use  that  occupation  as  a  master  at  Gorlitz,  in  1594,  and 
getting  into  such  business  as  enabled  him  to  support  a  fa- 
mily, he  entered  after  some  time  into  matrimony,  and  had 
several  children. 

In  the  mean  time,  being  naturtilly  of  a  religious  tarn 
of  mind,  he  was  a  constant  frequenter  of  sermona  firom  his 

,  1  Life  by  J.  J.  Rambaeb|  translated  by  Jacob i.  Loud.  1735,  8vo. 
*  Blog.  Univcnelle. 


B  (£  H  M  £  N.  491 

yoathy  and  took  all  opportunities  of  reading  books  of  dt* 
vinity,  but,  not  being  able  to  satisfy  himself  about  the  dif« 
ferences  and  controversies  in  religion,  he  grew  very  un-* 
easy,  till,  happening  one  day  to  hear  from  the  pulpit  that 
speech  of  our  Saviour,  "  Your  heavenly  Father  will  give 
the  holy  spirit  to  them  that  ask  it ;''  he  was  presently  sd 
affected,  that  from  this  moment,  as  he  tells  us,  be  never 
ceased  asking,  that  he  might  know  the  ti!uth.     Upon  tbis^ 
he  says,  by  the  divine  drawing  and  will,  he  was  in  spirit 
lapt  into  the.  holy  sabbath,  where  he  remained  seven  whole 
days,  in  the  highest  joy  ;.  after  which,  coming  to  himself 
he  laid  aside  all  the  follies  of  youth,  and  was  driven  by 
divine  zeal  earnestly  to  reprehend  impudent,  scandalous^ 
and  blasphemous  speeches,  and  in  all  his  actions  forbore 
the  least  appearance  of  evil,  continuing  to  earn  a  com^ 
fortable  livelihood  by  diligent  application  to  his  trade.     In 
1600,  be  was  a  second  time  possessed  with  a  divine  light, 
and  by  the  sight  of  a  sudden  object  brought  to  the  inward 
ground  or  centre  of   the  hidden  nature;  yet  somewhat 
doubting,  he  went  out  into  an  open  field,  and  there  beheld 
the  miraculous  works  of  the  Creator  in  the  signatures, 
figures,  or  shapes  of  all  created  things  very  clearly  and 
manifestly  laid  open ;  whereupon  he  was  taken  with  ex- 
ceeding joy,  yet  held  his  peace,  in  silence  praising  God. 
But  ten  years  after,  in  1610;  through  the  overshadowing 
of  the  holy  spirit,  he  was  a  third  time  touched  by  God, 
and  became  so  enlightened,  that,  lest  so  great  grace  be-< 
stowed  upon  him  should  slip  out  of  his  memory,  and  be 
resist  his  God,  he  began  to  write  privately  for  his  own  use 
(without  the  help  of  any  books  except  the  holy  scripture); 
the  truths  which  had  been  thus  revealed  to  him.     In  this 
spirit  he  first  published  his  treatise,  entitled  ^^  Aurora,  or 
the  rising  of  the  sun,''  in  1612  ;  which  book  was  imme*- 
diately  carried  to  the  magistrates  of  Gorlitz  by  George 
Richterus,.  dean  of  the  ministers  of  that  place,  who  com* 
plained  of  its  containing  tnany  of  the  errors  of  Paracelsus 
and  Wigelius  ;   for  Boshmen  had   amused  himself  with 
chemistry  in  his  yctuth.     The  magistrates  suppressed  the 
piece  as  much  as  possible,  and  commanded  the  author  to 
write,  no  more,  observing  to  him,  that  such  employment 
was  properly  the  business  of  the  clergy,  and  did  not  be*- 
long  to  his  profession  and  condition. 
^  Thus  rebuked,  he  remained  silent  for  seven  years  ;  but 
^  finding  that  the  directors  of  the  electoral  laboratory  had 


49^  B  (£  H  M  C  N. 

Tecommended  bim  to  a'gr^at  mafly  persona  6f  the  eduH  i^i 
good  chemist,  he  lifted  up  btB  b^d,  and  boldly  opposed  Rich-' 
tems:  and,  t&klng  up  bisr  p^  ^g^uif  tieas  Resolved  to 're« 
4leeni  th6  time  he  bad  lost  j  insomncb  Vbatin  the  retnaih- 
ing  five  years  of  his  life  be  wrote  above  twenty 'booKii,  tHfe 
last  of  which,  entitled  **'A  table  of  bis  ^ritiiipIes,^or  a  kfey 
of  his  writings,^'  was  ptiblifihM  in  ieS4»  He  did  hot  \6t\g 
«urvit«^it;  fcnr,  bfetimesih  tbembrtii»g,'Nov.  18  of  that 
year,  be  called  one  of  his'  soils,  dnd' aikeU  him^  ^''iffa^ 
Itlso  heard  that  excellent  mimic  ?'*  To  Whicb^bfeing  ansWerecl 
in  the  negative,  be  Ordered  the  dooi^  to  b^  set  open,  that 
the  music  might  be  tbel  better  beard.*  He  sffteti  aftehvardi 
what  o'ck)ck  it  was?  and  beitig  told  it h^d  struck" two; 'll^ 
said,  *<'It  is  not  yet  Any  time,  my  titne  is  tbriee^'botti^ 
benee/^  In  tbe  interim  he  was  beard  to  ^peak^t'be^^  WdrdS 
♦*  O  thou  strong  God  of  bc^s,  deliver  me  according  t:o  tfiy 
will :  O  thou  crucified ''Ldnt  Jesus,  have  tdercy  upon^tdl^ 
and  receive  me  into  thy  kingdom/'  When  it  wasneaf  ^fi 
o^doek,^'be  took  leate  of  hiti  wife'  and  sons,  and  blesseli 
them,' and'  said,  *<  Now^' T  go  beiice  to  paradise  ;'^  theA 
biddiirg^  fats  soft  turnT  biCttf  he^ldittiediKtdy  ^xpired^  in  k 
deep  sigh. .   •  :•  i-  -■•'-'■'    *'-  -^'-^ 

A  great  number  of  persons  bavi  been  iriveigled'by  tfti 
virions  of  this  fanatic ;  among  others  the  fiinaous  Qiiirintn 
Kablman  in  Germany,  Who  says,  that  hb  bad  learned  mote^ 
being  albne  in  his  study^  from  B^cbnien,  than  be  could 
tave  le^it^d^frdm  all  the  wisie  men  of  that  age  tog^etheri 
ind^ttat  we'  may  not  be  iii  tbe'dtitk  as  toHvhiitsort  of  knovr* 
ledge  this  was,  he  acqtiaitfts  us;  that  amidst  an- iiiffn!& 
Dumber  of  viisions  il  happened,  that  being  snatcfi'^d  oiitSjf 
his  study,  he  saW  thousands  of  thousands  6{  iight^'ri^irij 
round  about  bim'.  But' our  aiitbor  is  bc^tter  ktiowti  am&ti[ 
eurselveSy  where  be  has -hundreds  of  adh)ireni;-and  ik\ 
lirende^,  since,  as  Dr.  Htory  More  observe^^  tbcs'-  sl&cf 
tbe  ^&k^rs  bttve  borrowed  a  great  many  ^f  ttieir  d06tiili( 
frotx^uy^^utonic  philosopher;  6f  whom  we  diaH  ve^ttfM 
toisaj,  fi^  a  perutel^f  some  i>f  his  writings,  that 4ie  poir^ 
sessed  tbe  grand  aircawilm  of  loystarizihg^lain  truths- by  tin 
idtetritably  snigmotic^l-eiqpression.  He  has  stilt  ma^ 
disciples  in  England ;  and  we  are  sorry  to  add,  met  with  k 
warm  advocate  and  industrious  disciple  in  the  late  pious 
]tf  r.  WilKam  Lawy  who  employed  many  years  in  prepariiw 
an  edition  and  translation  of  Boebmen's  works,  -and^wbitS 
were  published  after  bis  decease  in  2  vols,  4tO|  to  whiok 


jk«rp  i^t)ier&  wre^  itft(^i:frar48  added,  Th^  titles  of  these 
^^Utxigs  will  h^ .  p€;^h^p9 ,  si)ffici€i)t,  without  entedng  fur- 
ther ioto  their  ]^erit3,.or  that  of  their  authpr>  Jto.Aurora^ 
or  the.risipg  pf  th^  9W^  ^^12.  >2«  Of.^e  three  p?^iiciple% 
jtogeth^r  with  m  appeiadjlsc  of  <jth^:. threefold  (life  ofjsxm^ 
XsiB.  3.  Of  the  threefold  life  pf  maP)  l^^O.  ^vAa.^a^ 
^wjer  to  the  forty  questions  of  the  souly. propounded  hyj>s. 
^Wial^r,  &c«^  ihid.  5«  Thpee.bpohsi  tjjie  firsts  of  the  ioccMmiir 
Ttip^  €uf  Ji^^s  Chr^t,;.  th^  se^ood^  of  th^  fl^eriagy  deaths 
I^^JC^^Ar^i^QtiQ^)  pf  C^br^t;  tb^Jihird^  of  the.jtreeoffaitfay 
jb^.  ^.  di;  »w  part^iv  Hwd.  ,  ,75jQf  the .  he.W^nly :  an4 
iWt^fe^yttfW  ibid,  ,.«^  ,Qf  t^fi,  l«j9t  times,,  tp. P.  K. 
|bid,  .,9«  Pl8,  9JgBatiM?jt^,r^^^  :,«f  thy^ .  signatwe  of  aU 
^  |f)fl[s>.li?SKj  4;ft.  Av, consolatory rjbook  of  the  fpurcpmr 

^^ft?4pn^^Jhidf:.  lU  An  ap^ogy  .to.  Baltha^W  :TiU^ei>#^  ia 
|W0  part^  ihid.,,  It9^  A 'COi|3idei»«i<^a  upon  E^i^s  Steefel'a 
jtpp^jbii  43.-OJf'tr.ue49e|)©ftt»pe,' 16Z?.  .  14.  Of  true 
S^sign^ipiit  ibid*  15.  Of  riege^WJlatipn,  ibid* .  1.6.  Of  pre- 
^ftinat^oi>  anieleQtipn.pf  Qod ;  at  rti^.^en^tpf  yWhi^  is>* 
lareftise;  eptjitUd,<  |7^  .A>8bojFtqpnip0odiu^.^f  r0p9ntailo4S| 
J6^l  , JlSv  Th^jj^#J<|fiiHn.finfigpiuft-f|ipq^  9^nf^ih  ibid. 
1 9.  A  table  of  the  principles,  or  key  of  his  wrijtings^  to 
'^^R^pd  J-,^;i  ,2P,  Of  the  suj^risensual  life,  ibid.  .2i, 
f  i^e  two  ief  tam/enU  of  Ch^^ist, -viz.  b^ptisai.  4nd  the  sup* 
er.  pf  thq  ^)n)l5i.  ibid*  ,  29.  A  dij^pgiUi^  between  .l^he  eof* 
ightened  ^pd  ufiei^iigjbiened  aooU  ibid^  ^^'  An  app]pg^ 
iiponjthfi  bpok  ^f  trae  ^^Bf  ntt«A2^iidirffclied<^Wfit  a  paai 
auiji  of  the  principal  >ig»i|ii»er  pf:,Gpr]iVz,/ip^Wd  ^liagc^ 
^ick^r,  ibid«  .S4.  An  epitpi^^  .<]^  .^th^;.  niypterii)q»  inagt 
iiuin^  ibict.  ,  Ji^.  A  table,  pf  the  dxYU^  mapifes^tioQ,,  or  aii 
IP^bsition  of  the^threefpld  world,  to  j,  S.  V.  S.  ^nd  A<  V^  R 
|bid^  ^  The  fojlowiag  are  without  dai^^  2^  .Pf  the  errors 
|)if  the  «ects  of  JEz^k^l  Meths^  to  A*  P.  A-  9^  ^^  apok^y  iQ 
£sai^i^ .  Sf^efql.,  97.  ,Of  the  last. judgjment.  .28.  Cer^^ 
lettera  ^  .4iT^ne  ^persons,  wrilJtea  at  ^diy^is?  timn^^  ,wi^ 
sjertain,  key^  for  some  bidd^uwords.  ..  Be^idP^  t  tbese^jOttt 
author  left  vnfini*hed^i,^29/A.4it^^  of  divi/^i^oj^^mrt 

ilation.  .  3Q.  A  ^opk/o|.  one* hundred  apd  ^evei^ty-^eveiir 
lebsojAjg  questipps.  .,,^1.  Tb^-holy  rWeeks>  or  th©  pr^yera 


fook. 


»»'.<;  '  i         .    •'       ii 


*  ^  life  ^jr  Okeley,  and  an  excellent  review  of  it  by  Badcock,  Month.  Iter, 
v^i.  L3:iU.>^Mdth«iiii.— Bniek«r.-«-S«ixii  OnilinMt>~Pfeftce  to  Wiirburton^ 


494  B  O  £  H  M  £  R. 

BOEHMER  (<7£OROE  Ralph],  an  eminent  professor  of 
botany  and  anatomy  in  the  university  of  Wittemberg,  who 
was  born  in  1723,  and  died  in  1808,  was  the  disciple  of 
Ludwig)  and  the  author  of  a  great  many  treatises  on  every 
blanch  of  botanical  science,  much  admired  for  original 
thoughts,-  perspicuity  of  methodj  and  exteifsive  know- 
ledge. The  principal  of  these  were,  1.  "Flora  Lipsia^ 
indigena,"  Leipsic,  1750,  8vo:  •  2.  **  Definitiones  plan- 
tarunv  Ludwigianas  aUctas  et  emendatas  edidit  G.  R. 
Boebmer,"  ibid.  1760,  whi^fr  forms  a  lie w  and  impfoved 
edition :of/Liid wig's  Elements  of  Botany.  3:  "Bibliotheca 
soriptorum  bistoriss  iVaturalis,*  oeconomisB,  aliarumque  ar« 
tiam  ac  scientiarum  ad  illam  peYtinentium,'  realis  sy sterna* 
tica,"  ibid:  9  vbls.  8v6,  a  very  Valuable  bibliogriiphical 
work,  with  refelrences  to  the  literary  journals,  &c,  4.  "A 
history  of  pianis  used  In  arts  and  manufactures,''  ibid.  179^4, 
8vo,  iti  German.  To  these '^indy  be  added  a  vast  number 
of  academtcal  dissertations  on'  bdu^nical  subjects.  The 
B<sbmeria,  a  genus  of  die  eki^s  Mbnoecia  Tetrandria,  was 
80  named  in- hoiiour  of 'hitn;  by  Jacquih.  * 

BOEHMER  (Jtei^iN  H*Ni^m6),  a  veiy  celebrated  Ger- 
man lawyer,  was  bdra  in  1674  ^t -Hanover.  He  became  pro- 
fessor of  law  at  Halle,  and  afterwards  director  of  the  uni- 
versity ;  and  ita  1748  wa^  appointed  chancellor  of  the  duchy 
of  Magdebitrgh;  and  chahcellor  in  ordinary  of  the  faculty 
of  law*  He  died  Aug.  11,  174^^.'  His  chief  Study  was  the 
canon  law,  but  he;was'also  equally  distinguished  for  his 
knowledge  of  the  civil  law'',  and* in ^U' his  writings  displays 
profound  sense  and  learning:  Among  the  most  approved 
of  his  Works,  we  may'  enumerate:  1.  **Tractatus  e'ccle- 
siastioHs  de  iurcf  parochiali/' Hdlle,  1701,  4tb^  i.  "Jus 
Bccleslasti^iHn'Protestantium,"  ibid.  1714,  5  volsl'ito  ;'and 
in  173*7,  a  i^ecohd  edition,- in  7  vols.  4to ;  a  third  in  1740, 
extended  to  12'  vols:'  4to.  •  S.  "  Corptis  juris  canonici,'* 
Halle^  1747,  ^  vols.  4to;  This,  which  is  written  in  a  spi- 
rit of  moderation  and  cahdbur,*^  he  dedicated  to  pope  Be-* 
nedictXIV.  who  received  the- compliment  very  graciously. 
He  had  two  sons  John  Samuel,  stud  George  Louis,  both 
eminent  lawyers,  law*writejrsj  and  professors,  a  list  of 
whose  works  may  be  seen  in  our  authority.  A  third  son, 
Philip  Adolphus,  bor^  .at  H$ille  ui  nil,  and  who  died  in 

4  ' 

1  I^io|^.  Universelle.  > 


.     B  0  £  It  M  £  R.  -fW 

I7d&,  tfttra  physician,  having  been  admitted  doctor  Ia 
oiedicitnein  1736.  As  hd  a{>pUed  his  ttiiAdparticalarfy  ti> 
the  study  of '  midwifetyj  he  gave -fo?  his  ittaugwral  tb^ijj'^ 
*'  Depr^^ienda  polyporana"  gert^ratione."  His  next xli»* 
isertatfoniy 'which  was  publisfh^d  in  1741,  in  4to,  was  *^  SU 
ttts  titeri  gravid! j' ac  foetus^  ac  se^e  placente&  in  utero.'* 
In  this^he  has  ^iven  a  critical  examination  of  the  midwifery 
forcep*  used- in  England,  whfch  he  compares  with  and 
prefers  to*  Letoiet's.  These  pieces  Were  ad'defd  by. the  ati-*- 
thor  ta  his  edition  of  sir  Richlird  Matinitighbm's  *' Com-^ 
peftdiumattis',ObstetPiCae,**  puMishedin  1746,  4to;  *  Havi- 
ii>g  acquired  celebrity  by  these  and  -otb^i*  vipovks,'  he  wa!s 
adopted  •  member  of  the  Acad.  Nat.  Curibs:*and  foreign 
associate  of  the  royal  academy  of  surgery  at  Patis.  Hef 
was  also  appointed  to  succeed  his 'fether  as  professor  of 
anatomy  and  medibin^  in  the  university  at  Hall.  In  1740 
he  published  *^  Institutfdnes  Ostedl6giCfiB,-  in  usum  prelec-? 
tionum^!*  Svo:  Haller'particuk.rly  cdWrti^nds  in  this  work 
the  engitfcVings  of  thfe'  embrybs,'  aiid  'S6mb  fdetalskeletonsl 
His  ^*  Observationum  Anatotiiioarum  fei^cicarlas" primus/' 
fcUo,  fvas  published  in  1752.'  •  Atnong •itiaf^y  rare  and  ca^ 
riot|s'bbj'€fcts'ctrd^,  an  engiiavin'g  ^of  a  prifgnant  uterus,  W 
shiew  the'membranadeciduaj^  and  a  ftetds  in  one  of  the 
FaHopfen^tubes^  with  tliie  placenta.  Thte 'second  collect 
tionyalse  in 'folio,  published  iri  1756^,  iiontaihs  a  smaller 
fcBtus^  iH'Orie'of  the  tubes',  aiid  a  child  vWth  tvto  bbdies  arid 
©ttly  one  head. *  '        '  •  •    '  '  -  '■' 

BOBRFiAAVE  (Herman),  an  JlludtritiuS  physician  and 
professor  at  Leyden,  born  Dec.  31,  1668,  at  Vo6rho6t,  s( 
smalt' village  iiY  Holland^  Hbout  two  miles  frorii  that  city. 
His  fMihe^  ihtended  him  'for'divimty,  an<d  with:  this  vie\^ 
iaifciated'h4m^frf'le%%e1r9  himself.-  About  th*  twelfth  year  of 
bis  age,  iie  iva*j  -aflame*  with  aiv  ulvcr  in  his^  teft  thigh, 
which  seemfed-  to'  bttflEbfr'th^^^irt  of  surgeryj'  and  occasioned 
such  exeessive  pain'^^^dft'^inuth  i!>tetr6pted  his  studies  for 
some  tiiWej-'btitat  letigtb/- ^l/y  fomfeiiting  it  with  salt  and 
wine,  he  effected  a  cUWhin^s^lf,-  &nd  thef^up6n  conceived 
his  fii*^t  'th(>iigHts  -of '  study ih^  phySidi  •  In  16»2,  he  was! 
sent  to  theptiblie^schtool&t  Leyden,  and  at  the  expiration 
of  the  y<^t-  got  Jfi^'thel'sijAh  and  highest  <;lass,  whence  it 
is  custdmkry,  afijei^'iix  rrwiithfe,  to  be  i»enloved  to  the  uni- 
versityi    'At'tbi^  jiilicture  his  father  difedj  who  left  a  wife 


496  B  O  £  R  H  A  A  V  £. 

ahd  nin^  children^  with  a  slender  provision ;  of  whom  Ifor* 
man^  though  hut  sixteen,  was  the  eldest.  Upon  bis  ad^ 
mission  into  the  univers ityi  he  was  particularly  noticed  by 
a  friend  of  his  father,  Mr.  Trigland,  one  of  the  professors 
of  divuiity,  who  procured  him  the  patronage  of  Mr.  Daniel 
Van  Alpheii,  burgomaster  oi  Leyden  ;  and  by  the  advice 
of  these  gentlemen  he  attended  Senguefd^s  lectures  on 
logic,  the  use  of  the  globes,  natural  philosophy,  meta« 
physics,  and  ethics:  he  likewise  attended  the  ieamed  Ja- 
cob Gronovius  on  Greek  and  Latin  authors^  Rykius  on 
Latin  classics,  rhetoric,  chronology,  and  geography,  and 
Trigland  and  Scaafe  on  the  Hebrew  and  Chaldee  Ian* 
guages,  in  order  to  understand  the  sacred  writings  in 
their  originals.  In  1687,  he  applied  to  mathematics, 
and  found  the  study  so  entertaining,  that,  after  having  gone 
through  geometry  and  trigonometry,  he  proceeded  to  at«- 
gebra,  under  Voider,  in  1689.  This  year  he  gave  a  spe- 
cimen qf  his  learning  in  an  academic  oration^  proving^ 
^^  That  the  doctrine  of  Epicurus  concerning  the  chief  good 
was  well  understood  by  Cicero  ;^^  and  for  this  received  the 
golden  medalj  ifhich  usually  accompanies  the  merit  of  suck 
probationary  exercise.  In  1690  he  took  a  degree  in  pbi^ 
losophy.  In  his  thesis  on  this  occasion,  with  great  strength 
of  argument,  he  confuted  the  systems  of  Epicurus,  Hoboes, 
and  Spinosa.  After  having  laid  a  «olid  foundation  in  all 
other  parts,  of  learning,  he  proceeded  to  divinity  under 
the  professors  Trigland  and  Spanheim  ;  the  first  of  whom 
gave  lectures  on  Hebrew  antiquitie?,  the  second  on  eccle- 
siastical history. 

Notwithstanding  he  was  thus  qualified  for  entering  into 
orders,  which,  according  to  his  ^ther^s  intention,  he  had 
hitherto  chiefly  in  view,  and  that  his  patrimony  was  by  this 
time  almost  wholly  exhausted ;  yet  such  was  his  diffidence, 
that  he  attempted  rather,  by  teaching  mathematics,  to  de- 
fray the  expence  attending  the  fertiher  prosecution  of  his 
theological  studies.  By  this  means  he  not  only  increased 
his  reputation,  but  (what  laid  the  foundation  of  his  future 
fortune)  was  introduced  to  an  intimate  friendship  with  John 
Vandenburg,  burgomaster  of  Leyden.  By  this  new  con- 
nection he  was  recommended  to  the  curators,  to  compare 
the  Vossian  manuscripts  (purchased  in  England  for  thfi 
public  library  at  Leyden)  with  the  catalogue  of  sale ;  which 
he  executed  with  such  accuracy  as  procured  him  the  esteem 
of  the  university,  and  t^commehded  him  in  so  particular  a 


\  \ 


B  O  E  R  HA  A  V  K;  497 

)UjBAi#r  to  Mr.  Vf^nd^nburgy  that  tfaU  gentleomn  became 
evff  after  .solicitous  for  UU  adyancemeot ;  and^bserviog 
tl\e  amazing  prpgra^s  fioerbaa^e  made  in  wbatever  be  ap- 
{41,ed  tp>  pej^suaded  biia  to. join  tbe  st^idy  of  pbysic  to 
p^il9§^hy,and  tbeology«  ...As  a  relaxation  tberefore.frooi 
diyioi^)  Aapd  ia  complaisance  to  Jtbis  gentleman^  be  dipt 
iol^  pbysicy.  beipg.dMly  prepared  for  it  by  bis  acquaintance, 
wjjii  tbe  learned  ls^guage3»  matbeoiatics,  and  natural  pbi-* 
losppby  ^  and  .|[)e  xesplved  to  take  a  degree  in  physic  be«... 
f9i;e  bis^.oF^iriaition.     The  study.  o(  medicine  commencing 
mxh  that  of  anatomy,,  he  diligently  peru^d  Vesalijus,  FaU 
lopius,  ^nd  Barth9)iu»  oftentimes  fagUnself^dissectiQg  and 
atti^uding  tbe  public  dissections  of  professor  Nuck.     He 
n^t  applied  himself  to  .the  fathers  of  pliysl^^  beginning 
withk  Hippocrates  9,  and^  in  their  chronological  order^  read- 
ing carefully  all  the  .Greek  and  Latin  pbysicians :  but  sooi^  . 
finding  that  tbe  later  writers.  ^'  were  almost  wholly. in-, 
debted  to  that  prince  of  physicians  for  whatever  was  ya* 
luable  in  themi  |ie  resumed  .Hippocrates^  to  whom  alpne 
in^this  faculty  he  devoted  hims^fifor  son^e  tinae^,  making;. 
ext|act$,  and,  digesting  tbem  ii),  such  a  manner,  asio  ren- 
der those  inestimable  remans  of  antiquity  quite  familiar 
tp  bim^'V    He  afterwards  made  himself  acquainted  with  tbe 
best  modern  authors^  particularly  with  Sydenham,  whom  he 
usually  styled  tbe  immortal  Sydenham.     He  next  applied 
tp  cbemistiy,  wirhich  so. captivated  him,  that  be  sometimes 
s^eut  days  ana.nights  successively  in  tbe^^udy  and  prp- 
cepise^.of  this  art*.  He  ni^^  also, a  considerable  proficiency. 
in  botany  :  not  contented  with  inspecting  the   plants  in 
l;be^phy$iQ-gArdeQ>  be  sought  others  with  fatigue  in  fields, 
layers,  ,&c.  and,  sometimes .  with  danger  in  almost  inac- 
<;essi^l^  places,  .tborgngbly  examining  what  he  found,  and 
eoniparing  them..with  the  delineations  of  authors. 

'  Jyis  progress.. in  physic  hitherto  was  without  any  assist- 
ance, frpm  lectures,,  ex;cept  those  mentioned  in  anatomy,,. 
mS^  a,  few  by  professor  Drelincourt  on  the  theory  \  nor  bad 
be  yet  ?my  thpuglits  of,  declining  the  priesthood ;  amiost 
matbematicaly  p|i,ilpflQphical,  anatomical,  cbemicar  andlme-' 
dlcal  researpbes,  Jie  ^atill  earnestly  pursued  divinity.  .  He 
went  to  the  university  of  Harderwick  in  GuelderTand,  and 
in  July  1693  was  created  there  M-  D.  Upon  his  return  to 
Leyden,  he  stilj  persisted  in  bis  design  of  engaging  in  the 
ministry,  but  found  an  invincible  obstruction  to  his  inten- 
sion.    Ip  ^a  passage-boat  where  be  bappened  to  be^  s^me 

'  Vol.  V.  K  K  "  ^      


49§  B  O  E  R  H  A  A  V  E. 

discouite  was  accidentally  started  about  the  doctfine  of 
^pinosa,  as  subyersive  of  all  religion  ;  and  one  of  the  pas-' 
sengersy  who  exerted  himself  most,  opposing  to  this  phi- 
losopher-s  pretended  mathematical  demonstrations  only  the 
loud  invective  of  a  blind  zeal,  Boerhaave  asked  him  calmly, 
'^  Whether  he  had  ever  read  the  works  of  the  author  he 
decried  ?'*  The  orator  was  at  once  struck  dumb,  and  fired 
with  silent  resentment.  Another  passenger  whispered  the 
person  next  himi  to  learn  Boerhaave's  name,  and  took  it 
down  in  his  pocket-book;  and  as  soon  as  he  arrived  at 
Ley  den,  gave  it  out  every  where,  that  Boerhaave  was  be- 
come a  Spinosist.  Boerhaave,  finding  that  such  prejudices 
gained  ground,  thought  it  imprudent  to  risque  the  refusal 
of  a  licence  for  the  pulpit,  when  he  had  so  fair  a  prospect 
of  rising  by  physic.  He  now  therefore  applied  wholly  t6 
physic,  and  joined  practice  with  reading.  In  1701,  he 
took  the  ofiice  of  lecturer  upon  the  institutes  of  physic ; 
and  delivered  an  oration  the  18th  of  May,  the  subject  of 
which  was  a  recommendation  of  the  study  of  Hippocrates : 
apprehending  that,  either  through  indolence  or  arrogance) 
this  founder  of  physic  had  been  shamefully  neglected  by 
those  whose  audiority  was  likely  to  have  too  great  weight 
with  the  students  of  medicine.  He  officiated  as  a  professor^ 
with  the  title  of  lecturer  only,  till  1709,  when  the  pro- 
fessorship of  medicine  and  botany  was  conferred  on  him : 
his  inaugural  oration  was  upon  the  simplicity  of  true  medi- 
cal science,  wherein,  exploding  the  fallacies  and  ostenta- 
tion of  alchemistical  and  metaphysical  writers,  he  reinstated 
medicine  on  the  ancient  foundation  of  observation  and  ex- 
periments. In  a  few  years  he  enriched  the  physic* garden 
with  such  a  number  of  plants,  that  it  was  found  necessary 
to  enlarge  it  to  twice  its  original  extent.  In  1714,  he  ar- 
rived to  the  highest  dignity  in  the  university,  the  rector- 
ship ;  and,  at  its  expiration,  delivered  an  oration  on  the 
method  of  obtaining  certainty  in  physics.  Here,  having 
asserted  our  ignorance  of  the  first  principles  of  things,  and 
that  all  our  knowledge  of  their  qualities  is  derived  from 
experiments,  he  was  thence  led  to  reprehend  many  systems 
of  the  philosophers,  and  in  particular  that  of  Des  Cartes, 
the  idol  of  the  times.  This  drew  upon  him  the  outrageous 
invectives  of  Mr,  R.  Andala,  a  Cartesian,  professor  of  di- 
vinity and  philosophy  at  Franeker,  who  sounded  the  alarm, 
that  the  church  was  in  danger ;  and  that  the  introduction 
of  scepticism,  and  even  Spinosism,  must  be  the  conse- 


B  O  E  R  H  A  A  V  E.  49» 

^ueAce  of  underniinihg  the  Cartesian  system  by  such  a 
professed  ignorance  of  the  principles  of  things :  his  viru- 
lence was  carried  to  such  a  degree,  that  the  governors  of 
the  university  thought  themselves  in  honour  obliged  (not- 
withstanding Boerhaave^s  remonstrances  to  the  contrary)  to 
insist  upon  his  retracting  his  aspersion?.     He  accordingly 
made  a  recantation,  with  offers  of  farther  satisfaction:  to 
which  Boerhaave  generously  replied,  that  the  most  agree* 
able  satisfaction  he  could  receive  was,  that  so  eminent  a 
divine  should  have  no  more  trouble  on  his  account.     In 
1728,  he  was  elected  of  the  academy  of  sciences  at  Paris ; 
and,  in  1730,  of  the  royal  society  of  London.     In  1718, 
he  succeeded  Le  Mort  in  the  professorship  of  chemistry ; 
and  made  an  oration  on  this  subject,  "  That  chemistry  ^as 
capable  of  clearing  itself  from  its  own  errors."     August 
1722,  he  was  taken  ill  and  confined  to  his  bed  for  siit 
months,  with  exquisite  arthritic  pains ;  he  suffered  anothet 
violent  illness  in  1727  ;  and  being  threatened  with  a  relapse 
in  1729,  he  found  himself  under  the  necessity  of  resigning 
the  professorships  of  botany  and  chemistry.     This  gave 
occasion  to  an  elegant  oration,  in  which  he  recounts  many 
fortunate  incidents  of  his  life,  and  returns  his  grateful  ac- 
knowledgements to  those  who  contributed   thereto.     Yet 
he  was  not  less  assiduous  in  his  private  labours  till  the  year 
1737,  when  a  difficulty  of  breathing  first  seized  him,  and 
afterwards  gradually  increased.     In  a  letter  to  baron  Has- 
sand,  he  writes  thus  of  himself:  *' An  imposthumation  of 
the  lungs,  which  has  daily  increased  for  these  last  three 
months,  almost  suffocates  me  upon  the  least  motion  :  if  it 
should  continue  to  increase  without  breaking,  I  must  sink 
under  it ;  if  it  should  break,  the  event  is  still  dubious : 
happen  what  qiay,  why  should  I  be  concerned  ?  since  it 
cannot  be  but  according  to  the  will  of  the  Supreme  Being, 
what  else  should  1  desire  ?  God  be  praised !  In  the  mean 
time,  I  am  not  wanting  in  the  use  of  the  most  approved 
remedies,  in  order  to  mitigate  the  disease,  by  promoting 
maturation,  but  am  no  ways  anxious  about  the  success  of 
them  :  I  have  lived  to  upwards  of  sixty-eight  years,  and 
always  cheerful."     Finding  also  unusual  pulsations  of  the 
artery  in  the  right  side  of  the  neck,  and  intermissions  of 
the  pulse,  he  concluded  there  were  polypous  concretions 
between  the  heart  and  lungs,  with  a  dilatation  of  the  ves- 
sels.    Sept.  8,  1738,  he  wrote  his  case  to  Dr.  Mortimer, 
secretary  of  the  royal  society ;  and  for  some  days  there 

K  K   2 


^00  B  O  E  R  H  A  A  V  ]£. 

were  flattering  hopes  of  his  recovery;  but  they  soon  ta^ 
nishedy  and  he  died  the  23d,  aged  almost  seventy. 

No  professor  was  ever  attended  in  public  as  well  as  pri- 
vate lectures  by  so  great  a  number  of  students,  from  such 
(different  and  distant  parts,  for  so  many  years  successively : 
none  heard  him  without  conceiving  a  veneration  for  his 
j)erson,  at  the  same  time  they  expressed  their  surprise  at 
his  prodigious  attainments;  and  it  may  be  justly  affirmed, 
.that  none  in  so  private  a  station  ever  attracted  a  more  uni; 
versal  esteem.  He  amassed  greater  wealth  than  ever  any 
physician  in  that  country  from  the  practice  of  physic^ 
which  was  owing  as  much  at  least  to  his  ceconomy,  as  the 
largeness  of  bis  fees ;  he  was  falsely  accused  of  penutioud* 
ness,  for  he  was  liberal  to  the  distressed,  but  without  ostea- 
tation :  his  manner  of  obliging  bis  friends  was  such,  that 
they  often  knew  not,  unless  by  accident,  to  whom  they 
were  indebted.  In  friendship  he  was  sincere,  constant, 
and  affectionate ;  he  was  communicative  without  conceit- 
edness,  and  zealous  though  dispassionate  in  contending 
for  truth ;  so  unmoved  was  he  by  detraction,  as  to  sa  y 
*'  The  sparks  of  calumny  will  be  presently  extinct  of  them 
selves,  unless  you  blow  them.^' 

The  following  anecdotes  respecting  an  important  feature 
in  Boerhaave^s  character  will  not  be  read  without  interest : 
**  Fifty  years  are  now  elapsed,'*  says  the  learned  baron 
Haller,  '^  since  I  was  the  disciple  of  the  immortal  Boer- 
haave ;  but  his  image  is  continually  present  to  my  mind. 
I  have  always  before  my* eyes  the  venerable  simplicity  of 
that  great  man,  who  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree  the 
power  of  persuasion.  How  often  have  I  heard  him  ssiy, 
when  he  spoke  of  the  precepts  of  the  Gospel,  that  the  Di- 
vine Teacher  of  it  had  much  more  knowledge  of  the  human 
heart  than  Socrates !  He  particularly  alluded  to  that  sen- 
tence in  the  New  Testament,  'Whosoever  looketh  after 
^  woman  to  lust  after  her,  hath  already  committed  adultery 
with  her  in  his  heart :'  for,  added  my  illustrious  master, 
*'  the  first  attacks  of  vice  are  always  feeble ;  reason  has 
then  some  power  over  the  mind.  It  is  then  in  the  very 
mptnent  that  such  thoughts  occur  as  have  a  tendency  to 
withdraw  us  from  our  duty,  that,  if  we  with  diligence  sup- 
press them,  and  turn  our  attention  to  something  else,  we 
may  avoid  the  approaching  danger,  and  not  fall  into  the 
temptations  of  vice."- 

..  Boerbaave. wrote  in  Latin  a  Commentary  on  his  own 
Life,  in  which,  in  the  third  person^  he  takes  notice  of  hi9 


BO  E  R  H  A  A  V  E.  50i 

ppinions^  of  his  studies,  and  of  his  pursuits.  He  there 
tells  us,  ^*  that  he  was  persuaded  the  Scriptures,  as  re- 
corded in  their  originals,  did  instruct  us  in  the  way  of  sal- 
vation, and  afford  tranquillity  to  the  mind,  when  joined 
with  obedience  to  Christ's  precepts  and  example.'*  He 
complains,  however,  that  many  of  those  who  make  the 
most  unequivocal  profession  of  our  Saviour's  doctrine,  pay 
too  little  deference  to  his  example  recommended  in  one  of 
his  precepts — "  Learn  of  me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in 
lieart," 

Not  long  before  he  died,  he  told  his  friends,  that  he 
had  never  doubted  of  the  spiritual  and  immaterial  nature 
of  t^  soul ;  but  that  in  a  very  severe  illness  with  which  he 
w^  afBicted,  he  had  a  kind  of  experimental  certainty  of 
the  distinction  between  corporeal  and  thinking  substances, 
wbich.mere  reason  and  philosophy  cannot  supply,  and  had 
opportunities  of  contemplating  the  wonderful  and  inexpli- 
cable union  of  soul  and  body.  "  This,'*  says  Dr.  Johnson 
in  his  exquisite  life  of  him,  ^^  he  illustrated  b}'  the  effects 
which  the  infirmities  of  his  body  had  upon  his  faculties ; 
which  yet  they  did  not  so  oppress  or  vanquish,  but  that  bis 
soul  was  always  master  of  itself,  and  always  resigned  to  the 
pleasure  of  its  author." 

This  great  man,  on  all  occasions,  declared  sir  Isaac 
Newton  to  have  been  a  most  accurate  observ^er  in  chemis- 
try, as  well  as  in  the  other  branches  of  natural  philosophy. 
Injbis  lectures  he  constantly  called  the  immortal  Syden- 
ham, the  British  Hippocrates, 

Music  and  gardening  were  the  <;onstant  amusements  of 
Boerhaave*  In  the  latter  part  of  his  life  his  great  pleasure 
was  to  retire  to  his  country  seat  near  Leyden,  where  he 
had  a  garden  of  eight  acres,  enriched  with  all  the  exotic 
shrubs  and  plants  which  he  could  procure,  that  would  live 
in  that  soil.  *^  Thus,"  says  Dr.  Lobh,  ^'  the  amusement  of 
the  youth  and  of  the  age  of  this  great  man  was  of  the  same 
kind— rtbe  cultivation  of  plants;  an  employment  coeval 
with  mankind,  the  first  to  which  necessity  compelled  them, 
and  the  last  to  which,  wearied  with  the  tiresome  round  of 
vanities,  they  are  fond  of  retreating,  as  to  the  most  inno« 
cent  and  entertaining  recreation." 

Boerhaave  is  buried  in  the  great  church  of  Leyden, 
under  a  large  marble  urn  thus  simply  inscribed : 

Salutifero  Boerhaavii  Genio  Sacr. 
ll  has  be^n  mentioned,  to  the  honour  of  Boerhaave,  bf 


5P2  B  O  E  R  H  A  A  V  E. 

ooe  of  his  biographers,  that  he  received  the  visits  of  three, 
crowned  heads, — the  grand  duke  of  Tuscany,  William  the 
Third,  and  Peter  the  Great,  the  last  of  v^hom  slept  io  his^ 
barge  all  night,  over  against  the  house  of  our  illuslrious^ 
professor,  that  he  might  have  two  hours  conversation  with 
him  before  he  gave  his  lectures.  These  visits  n^ost  assur- 
edly did  more  honour  to  the  princes  than  to  the  philoso- 
pher, whose  power,  like  that  of  the  poets  mentioned  by 
Charles  the  Ninth  in  his  epistle  to  Ronsard,  is  exercised 
upon  the  minds,  while  that  of  the  sovereign  is  confined  to 
the  bodies  of  mankind. 

As  the  list  of  the  works  of  this  illustrious  physician  form 
no  inconsiderable  monument  to  his  memory,  we  shall  avail 
ourselves  of  a  more  complete  detail  than  has  yet  appeared 
in  this  country.  In.the  revolutions  of  the  medical  science, 
it  is  true  that  many  of  them  are  no  longer  read,  but  by 
learned  inquirers  there  are  few  of  them  which  are  not  oc-. 
Casionaliy  consulted,  and  the  whole  may  be  considered  as 
an  index  to  the  history  of  medicine,  under  what  may  be 
termed  his  administratiop. 

Thte  works  of  Boerhaave  are  divided  into  three  classes : 
the  first,  consisting  of  those  which  he  adknowledged ;  the 
second,  of  those  either  attributed  to  him,  or  emanating 
from  his  school ;  and  the  third,  of  those  to  which  be  only 
performed  the  office  of  editor. 

Under  the  first  of  these  classes ;  we  have,  1.  Various  dis^ 
courses,  or  ^^  Orationes  ;''as  ^^Oratio  de  commendando  stu-« 
dio  Hippocratico ;"  and  <^  Oratio  de  usu  ratiocinii  mechaoici 
in  Medicina,'*  reprinted  1709,  8vo.  ^^  Oratio  qua  repurgatas 
MedicinsB  facilis  asseritur  simplicitas ; — decomparandocerto 
in  physicis  ; — de  chemia  suos  errores  expurgante  ;-r^e  vita 
et  obitu  Bernbardi  Albini,"  Leyden,  1721,  4to,  ^^  Oratio 
<quam  habuit  cum  botauicam  et  chemicam  professionent 
publice  poneret,"  ibid.  1729  ; — ^^  de  honore  medici  servi-> 
tute  f  all  these  are  among  his  **  Opuscula."  Q,  *^  Instito* 
tiones  medicsB  in  usus  exercitationis  annu®  domesticos,'' 
teyden,  1708,  ITIS^  1720,  1727,  1734,  1746,  8vo;  Paris, 
)722,  17S7,  1747,  X2mo.  translated  into  most  languages^ 
Hfid. even  into  the  Arabic  by  order  of  the  Mufti;  and  on 
which  the  following  commentaries  have  been  published  i 
one  by,  {laller,  Leyden,  1758,  7  vols,  4to;  and  another  by 
jLameHrie,  .entitled  ^^  Institutions  et  Apborismes,''  Paris, 
}743,  8  vols.  12mo,  3.  <^  Aphorismi  de  cognoscendis  et 
fi^urandis  morbis,  in  usum  doctrinal  Medicinse,^'  Leyden, 
17P9,  1715,  1728,  1734,  1742,  12mQ;  Pws,  1720,  1726, 


B  O  E  R  H  A  A  V  E.         ,  S&S 

1728,  1745,  1747,  I2mo;  Locrvain,  1751,  12mo,  with  his 
treatise  "  De  Lue  Venerea;"  in  English,  1735;  in  French, 
Rennes,  1738,  L^mo;  also  in  Arabic  ;  and  on  which  Van 
Swieten  wrote  his  excellent  commentary,  5  vols.  4to; 
4.  ^^  Index  plan  tar  um  quae  in  horto  academico  Lugduno- 
Batavo  reperiuntur,"  Leyden,  1710,  1718,  8vo.  A  new 
edition,  enlarged,  and  with  thirty  figures  of  plants  rather 
indifferently  executed,  and  an  account  of  the  directors  of 
the  garden,  from  it^  origin-  to  the  time  of  Boerhaave,  was 
published  under  the  title  of  "  Index  alter,  &c.*'  Leyden, 
1720,  4to;  1727,  2  vols.  4to.  5.  "  Libellus  de  materia 
medica  et  remediorum  formulis,"  London,  1718,  8vo; 
Leyden,  1719,  1727,  1740,  8 vo;  Paris,  1720,  1745,  12mo; 
Francfort,  1720;  in  French  by  Lamettrie,  1739,  1756, 
12mo.  This  has  sometimes  been  mistaken  for  a  work  *'  D« 
viribus  medicamentorum,"  improperly  attributed  to  Boer- 
haave*  6.  ^^  Epistolse  ad  Ruischium  clarissimum,  pro  sen- 
tentia  Malpighiana  de  glandulis,"  Amst»  1722.  7.  ^'Atro^ 
cis  nee  descripti  prius  morbi  historia,  secundilm  medicae 
artis  leges  conscripta,"  Leyden,  1724,  8vo.  8.  "  Atrocis, 
xarissimique  morbi  historia  altera,"  Leyden,  1728,  8vo« 
9.  ^^  Elementa  Chemise  qusB  anniversario  labore  docuit  in 
publici^i  privatisqvie  scholis,"  Paris,  1734,  2  vols.  8vo;  . 
Leyden,  1732,  4to;  Paris,  1733  and  1753,  2  vols.  4to. 
with  the  author's  ^^  Opuscula,"  and  translated  into  French 
and  English,  the  latter  by  Shaw  and  Chambers,  1727,  4to ; 
and  again  by  Dallowe,  1735,  4to. 

Among  the  works  attributed  to  him,  without  sufficient 
authority,  or  proceeding  from  his  school,  being  compila'p 
tious  by  bis  students  from  his  lectures,  are :  1.  ^^  Tractatus 
de  Peste,''  published  with  other  treatises  respecting  the . 
plague  at  Marseilles.  Boerhaave  was  himself  iiifected  at 
that  melancholy  period,  and  in  this  lays  down  a  mode  of 
cure.  2.  ^'  Consultationes  medicse,  sive  sylloge  episto- 
larum  Gum  responsis,"  Hague,  1743,  often  reprinted,  and 
translated  into  English,  Lond.  1745,  8vo.  3.  <<  Prselec- 
tianes  publicae  de  morbis  oculorum,'^  dictated  by  Boer- 
haave in  1708,  Gottingen,  1746,  8vo.  Haller  published 
two  editions;  one  in  1750,  from  a  bad  transcript;  tha 
other  from  a  tn6re  correct  one  by  Heister,  Venice*  1748, 
8vo.  4.  "  Introductio  in  praxin  clinicam,"  Leyden^  174(1, 
Svo.  5.  <^  Praxis  medica,"  London,  1716,  l$nao,  6.  "Dc 
viribus  medicamentorum,"  collected  from  his  lectures  in 
X7U,   1712,  Paris,  1723,    8vo,    &c.      7.  '<  E^cperimenta 


504  p  0  E  R  H  A  A  V  E. 

et    institutiones    chemicae,**    P^ris,    1728,   2    vols.    6vo# 
3.  "Methodus  discendi  Medicinara,"  Amst.  1726,   1734, 
Svo;  Lond.  1744,  the  best  edition  by  Haller,  Amst.  1751, 
2  vols.  4to,  under  the  title  of  **  Hermanni  Boerbaave,  viri 
summi,  suique  praeceptoris,  methodus  studii  medici  eoien* 
data  et  accessionibus  locupletata.''     9.  ^^  Historia  planta- 
Tum  quae  ip  faorto    academico   Lugd.   Batav.  crescunt,^* 
Leyden,  1717,  2  vols.  12mo  (under  the  name  of  Rome), 
Lond.  1731,  1738.     10.  "  Praelectiones  de  calculo,"  Lond. 
1748,    4to.      13.    **  Prselectiones  academicse.  de  morbia 
Nervorum,''  Leyden,  1761,  2  vols.  Svo;  Fraticfort,  1762. 
This  was  edited  by  James  van  Eeems,  from  various  manu- 
script copies  of  Boerhaave's  lectures.     In  fact,    all  the 
works  enumerated  in  this  list  were  produced  in  the  same 
manner,  some  in  his  lifetime,  but  mostly  after  his  death. 
Such  was  the  very  extensive  reputation  of  Boerbaave,  that 
to  be  his  pupil  was  in  some  degree  accounted  a  qualifica-' 
tion  for  future  honours  and  practice,  and  every  pupil  was 
glad  to  bring  away  as  much  ^s  he  could  in  manuscript,  to 
testify  his  diligence.     The  booksellers,  very  naturally  de- 
sirous of  profiting  b;^  the  popularity  of  our  author,  em- 
ployed m&ny  of  these  pupils  in  collating  different  tran- 
scripts, and  publishing  what  was  conceived  to  be  the  best 
text.     In  this  way,  doubtless,  his  reputation  might  occa- 
sionally puffer  by  the  incorrectness  or  misapprehension 
of  these  transcribers ;  yet  even  Haller  and  other  eminent 
physicians  were  glad  to  avail  themselves  of  such  assistance, 
to  extend  |the  Boerhaavian  school,  and   promote  the  sa- 
lutary revolution  in  medical  science  which  this  illustcious 
writer  had    begun.     The    celebrated   medical  school  of 
Edinburgh  was  the  first  branch  from  it  which  introduced 
Boerbaave  to  this  country,  all  the  original  founders  and 
professors  of  that  school  having  been  his  pupils. 

There  is  yet  a  third  class  of  writings  connected  with  the 
name  of  Boerbaave,  in  which  he  acted  principally  as 
editor.  Among  these  we  may  enumerate  :  i.  The  coitnt 
MarsigU's  "  Histoire  physique  de  la  Mer,"  Amst.  1725^ 
fol.  2;  Vaillant's  "  Botanicon  Parisiense,^  Leyden,  1737, 
4to.  3.  Swammerdam's  **  Historia  Insectorum,  sive  Biblia 
Naturse,"  Amst.  1737,  2  vols.  fol.  translated  into  Latin 
by  Gaubiu^,  with  a  preface  by  Boerbaave.  These,  how- 
ever, are  not  to  be  considered  as  new  editions,  for  they 
were  never  published  before,  and  the  world  was  now,  for 
the  first  time,  indebted  for  them  to  B9erhaave's  zeal  for 


BO  E  R  H  A  A  V  E.  SOS 

thfe  promotion  of  science.  Swammerdam's  wort  was  pur- 
chased and  printed  entirely  at  his  own  expence.  It  was 
not  foy  his  talents  only,  but  by  his  fortune  also,  that  he 
sought  to  advance  science  i  and  bis  liberal  patronage  of 
Linnseus  and  Artedi  was  amply  acknowledged  by  both ; 
but  as  in  his  first  interview  with  the  former  there  ara  some 
characteristic  traits  unnoticed  by  Boerhaave's  biographers, 
we  shall  in  this  place  extiact  Stoever^s  account,  from  his 
life  of  Linnaeus.  ^ 

^*  Linnaeus,  when  at  Leyden,  had  particularly  wished  to 
see  and  couN'ei'se  with  Boerhaave,  but  in  vain.     No  mi- 
nister could  be  more  oyerwhelmed  with  intreaties  and  in- 
vitations, nor  more  difficult  in  granting  an  audience,  than 
Boerhaave.     His  menial  servants  reaped  advantages  from 
ihis 'circumstance ;  for  them  an  audience  was  always  a  pro- 
fitable money-job  ;  by  the  weight  of  gold  it  could  alone  be 
accomplished,     without   a   douceur  it  was  hard  for  any 
stranger  or  foreigner  to  gain  admittance.     Linnaeus  was 
quite  unacquainted  with  this  method,  and  had  it  not  in  his 
power  to  make  presents.     Owing  to  Boerhaave's  infinite 
occupations,  and  the  strict  regularity  which  lie  observed, 
embassadors,  princes,  and  Peter  the  Great  himself,  were 
obliged  to  wait  several  hours  in  his  anti>chamber,  to  ob- 
tain an  interview.     How  much  more  diffic|iilt  must  it  have 
been  for  the  young  northern  doctor,    allowing  him  his 
usual  spirit  of  liberality,  to  aspire  at  the  honour  of  ad- 
mittance.    Notwithstanding   all  these   obstacles,    he  ob^ 
tained  it  at  last.     He  sent  Boerhaave  a  copy  of  his  new« 
published  system.     Eager  to  know  the  author  of  this  work^  ^ 
who  had  likewise  recommended  himself  by  a  letter,  he  ap- 
pointed Linnaeus  to  meet  him  on  the  day  before  his  in- 
tended departure,  at  his  villa,  at  the  distance  of  a  quarter 
of  a  league  from  Leyden,  and  charged  Qronovius  to  give 
iiim  notice  of  his  intention.     This  villa  contained  a  bota- 
nical garden,  and  one  of  the  finest  collections  of  exotics. 
Linnaeus  punctually  attended  to  the  invitation.   Boerhaave, 
who  vi'as  tben  sixty-seven  years  old,  received  him  with 
gladness,  and  took  him  into  his  garden,  for  the  purpose 
of  judgiiig  of  his  knowledge.     He  shewed  him,  as  a  rarity, 
the  Crategus  Aria,  and  asked  him  if  he  had  ever  seen  that 
tree  before,  as  it  had  never  been  described  by  any  bo- 
tanist.    Linnaeus  answered  that  he  had  frequently  met  witl^ 
\t  li|  Sweden^  and  that  it  had  been  already  described  by 


506  B  O  E  R  H  A  A  V  E. 

Yaillant.  Struck  with  th6  young  man^s  reply,  Boerhaav^ 
denied  the  latter  part  of  his  assertion,  with  30  much  more 
confideDcey  as  he  had  himself  published  Vaillant's  work) 
with  notes  of  his  own,  and  firmly  believed  that  tree  had 
not  been  described  in  it.  To  remove  all  doubts,  and  to 
give  all  possible  sanction  to  what  he  advanced^  Boerbaave 
immediately  produced  the  work  itself  from  his  library,  and 
to  his  extreme  surprise,  found  the  tree  fully  described  in 
it,  with  all  its  distinctive  marks.  Admiring  the  exact  and 
enlarged  knowledge  of  Linnaeus  in  botany,  in  which  he 
seemed  even  to  excel  himself,  the  venerable  old  man  advised 
him  to  remain  in  Holland,  to  make  a  fortune,  which  could 
not  escape  his  talents.  Linnaeus  answered  that  he  would 
fain  follow  this  advice,  but  his  indigence  prevented  him 
from  staying  any  longer,  and  obliged  him  to -set  out  next 
day  for  Amsterdam^  on  his  return  to  Sweden ;  but  never- 
theless  this  visit  to  Boerbaave  unexpectedly  became  the 
source  of  his  fortune  and  of  his  eminence." 

Among  the  editions  of  works  already  pubUshed,  to  which 
Boerbaave  contributed,  we  have,  I.  The  writings  of  Dre* 
lincourt,  one  of  his  old  masters,  Amst.  1727,  4to.  2.  ^^  Pi- 
donis  selectiores  observationes,^'  Leyden,  1718,  4to;  and 
**  Pisonis  de  cognoscendis  et  curandis  morbis,"  &c.. Ley- 
den, 1733,  8vo,  1736,  4to.  3.  Vesalius^s  "Anatomical 
works,"  1725,  2  vols.  fol.  4.  Luisinus^s  "  Tractatus  me- 
dicus  de  Lue  Venerea,  prefixus  aphrodisiaco,"  2  vols.  foL 
a  collection  of  the  writers  on  that  disorder.  5.  ^^  Bartb. 
Eustachii  opuscula  anatomica,"  3d  edit.  Delft,  1726,  8vo, 

6,  "  Bellini  de  urinis  et  pulsibus,"    Leyden,   1730,  4to. 

7.  "  Prosper  Alpinus  de  presagienda  vita  et  morte,"  1733, 
4to.  8.  "  Aretaeus  de  causis  signisque  morborum,"  Leyd. 
1731,  1735.  To  all  these  he  wrote  prefaces,  notes,  and 
sometimes  lives  of  the  authors.  He  and  Groenvelt  had  an 
intention  of  re-publishing  all  the  most  valuable  Greek  phy* 
sicians ;  and  he  is  said  to  have  left,  almost  ready  for  the  press, 
the  works  of  Nicander  and  £tius.  When  we  consider 
the  labour  necessary  for  these  undertakings,  as  well  as  ior 
Boerhaave^s  original  works,  and  the  vast  extent  of  his 
practice  find  correspondence,  we  may  justly  consider  him 
as  not  only  one  of  the  most  learned  medical  writers  of  hiiB 
time,  but  as  one  of  the  most  industrious;  noi*  can  we  be 
surprised  that  Linnaeus,  then  unknown,  or  any  stranger, 
shoulcl  find  access  diflicult  to  one  whose  time  was  90  valu* 


BO  ER  H  A  A  V  E.  SOT 

I 

B/blCf  SO  well  employed,  and  so  liable^  from  his  great  ce- 
lebrity, to  be  lost  in  visits  of  ceremony  or  curiosity.  * 

BOERHAAVE  (Abraham  Kaan),  professor  of  medicine 
in  the  university  of  Petersburgh,  was  born  at  the  Hague  in 
1715,.  He  was  the  son  of  James  Kaan,  and  of  Margaret,  the 
daughter  of  Herman  Boerhaave.  After  receiving  a  good 
classical  education,  he  went  to  Leyden,  where,  applying 
to  the  study  of  medicine  under  the  celebrated  Albinus 
Gaubius,  and  other  masters,  he  was  admitted  to  the  degree 
of  doctor  in  1738.  He  had  before  obtained  an  honorary  me<- 
dal  from  the  university  for  his  discourse .^^  De  gaudiis  Alche* 
mistarum,''  though  he  was  more  particularly  attached  to 
anatomy,  which  he  cultivated  with  great  success.  The  year 
following  he  took  the  name  of  his  uncle  Boerhaave.  la 
1740  he  went  to  Petersburgh,  where  his  talents  soon  pro-> 
cured  him  the  situation  of  professor  in  medicine  in  the 
university  there,  and  of  one  of  the  members  of  the  impe- 
rial academy.  By  Portal  and  Blumenbach  he  is  called 
archiater,  or  aulic  counsellor,  and  first  physician  to  the 
empress,  confounding  him  with  his  brother  Herman  Kaan  B« 
who  about  the  same  time  enjoyed  that  honour.  In  the 
course  of  a  severe  and  tedious  illness,  from  which  be  with 
difficulty  recovered,  he  lost  his  hearing.  This  happened 
1749.  He  died  in  1753.  His  works  are:  "  Perspiratio 
dicta  Hippocrati,  per  universnm  corpus  anatomice  illus- 
trata,^'  Lugd.  B.  1738,  12mo;  in  which  he  shews  there  is 
a  constant  inlialation.  or  absorption,  and  an  exhalation^  ox 
perspiration,  carried  on,  not  only  on  the  surface  of  the 
body,  but  in  all  the  principal  cavities.  *^  Impetum  faciens 
dictum  Hippocrati  per  corpus  consentiens,  philologice  et 
physiologice  illustratum,''  Lugd.  Bat.  1745,  l2mo.  In 
this  he  treats  of  the  action  of  the  mind  upon  the  body% 
by  the  means  of  the  nerves  ;  of  the  fabric  and  motion  of 
the  muscles ;  on  the  effects  of  opium,  given  to  a  dog,  &c. 
He  also  gave  the  anatomy  of  an  elephant,  which  he  had  an 
opportunity  of  dissecting,  and  of  two  nionstrous  infants,  &c.^ 

;BO£RN£R  (Christian  Frederick),  professor  of  theo« 
logy  at  Leipsic,  was  born  at  Dresden,  Nov,  6,  1685,  stu^ 

1  Life  by  Dr.  Will.  Burton,  1746,  8vo,  the  second  and  best  edition.^— Sbul* 
den's  Oratio  Academica  in  Mem.  H.  Boerhaave,  Leyden,  1738. — Essai  sur  le 
cara^re,  par  M.  Maty,  Cologne,  1747,  Sro.^-Cbaufepie. — Life  by  Dr.  John- 
son, in  his  Works. — Puiteney's  Sketches. — Stoever's  Linnaeus. — Seward's  Anec- 
dotes, yd.  II.  p.  231. — Haller.  Bibl.  Med.  Pract  Bibl,  Anat.  Botan.  &  Cbirur^. 
flp-Saxii  OnoQiasticoM. 

9  l^^Uer  Bibl.  AQ»t.--^R«ef's  C^dopaedU* 


508  B  O  E  R  N  E  R. 

died  at  Leipsic  aikl  Wittemberg,  and  travelled  aftervrardl 
in  Holland  and  England.  He  died  at  Leipsic,  Nov.  19^ 
1753.  He  was  a  man  of  great  learning,  which  he  em- 
ployed principally  on  subjects  of  biblical  criticism  and  ec- 
clesiastical history.  His  principal  works  are:  1.  "  De 
exulibus  Gmscis:  iisdemque  litterarum  in  Italia  instanra- 
toribus," ,  Leipsic,  1704,  and  enlarged  1750,  8vo.  '2.  •*  De 
ortu  atque  progressu   Philosophise  moralis,"    ibid.  1707. 

3.  "  De  Socrate,  singulari  boni  ethici  exemplo,*'  ib.  1707. 

4.  "  De    Lutheri    actis    anno    1520,**    ibid.    1720,    4to. 

5.  "De actis  Lntherianno  1521," ibid.  1721,  4to.  6.  ^In- 
'  stitutiones  theologian  symtbolicse,"  ib.  1751,  4to.     7.  "  Dis- 

sertationes  sacrae,*'  ibid.  1752.  The  Journal  ded  Savani 
foi*  1725  mentions  a  dissertation  of  his  on  the  Lycaonians^ 
in  which  he  takes  the  part  of  tl^ose  writers  whd  deny  that 
the  language  of  that  people  was  a  dialect  of  the  Greek. 
Boerner  published,  from  1728  to  1734,  a  complete  edition 
of  the  works  of  Luther,  in  22  vols,  folio.  He  published 
also,  in  1709,  an  edition  of  Le  Long's  **.  Bibliotheca 
Sacra,"  at  Antwerp,  2  vols.  Svo,  with  corrections  and  ad- 
ditions. He  had  two  sons,  Christian  Frederic,  and  Fre- 
deric, who  were  both  physicians.  The  latter,  who  died 
in  1761,  published  the  "Lives  and  writings  of  en^iiVent 
physicians  and  naturalists,"  in  German,  Wolfenbuttle, 
1748 — 64,  3  vols.  Svo.  Boerner  was  once  possessed  of  a 
MS.  of  part  of  the  New  Testament,  which  is  known  by 
the  name  of  the  Codex  Boernerianus.  It  is  noted  G.  in 
the  second  part  of  Wetstein's  New  Testament,  and  was 
collated  by  Kuster,  and  described  in  the  preface  to  bis 
edition  of  Mill's  Greek  Testament.  It  was  published  by 
professor  Matthei,  at  Meissen,  in  Saxony,  in  1791,  and 
is  supposed  to  have  been  written  between  the  eighth  and 
twelfth  centuries.  It  is  preserved  at  present  in  the  elec-  • 
toral  library  at  Dresden,  and  a  copy  of  it  is  in  the  libraYy 
of  Trinity  college,  Cambridge,  among  the  books  and  MSS. 
leftby  Dr.  Bentley.* 

BOETHIE  (Stephen  de  la),  of  Sarlat,  in  Perigofd, 
counsellor  of  the  parliament  of  Bourdeaux,  was  bora 
Nov.  1,  1530,  and  cultivated  both  L^tin  and  French 
poetry  with  success.  He  was  an  author  at  the  age  of  8ix"> 
teen,  and  died  at  thirty-two,  in  1563,  at  Germignan,^  two 

» 

'  1  Biog>  Univ. — Micbaelit  •n  tb«  New  Test,  by  Marsb. — Ree$*8  Cyck>pedia.<»9 
S^xii  OnonuuticQD,  ta  wh|ch  Boeroejr  ii  apok/^n  Of  slightingly,  . 


B  O  E  T  H  I  E.  509 

leagues  from  Bourdeaux.  Mentagne,  his  friead^  to  whom 
be  left  bis  library,  collected  his  works  in  157 1,  8vo.  They 
consist  of  translations  of  several  works  of  Plutarch  and 
Xenophon,  of  political  discourses,  pieces  of  poetry,  &c. 
His  **  Authenoticon,^'  or  voluntary  slavery,  was  published 
in  1575,  at  the  time  of  the  bloody  dissensions  about  re- 
ligion in  France.  Montagne  published  some  sonnets  of 
bis  which  possess  considerable  merit,  bi^  upon  the  whole, 
his  friendship  for  Bcethie  has  induced  him  to  over*rate 
bis  merit.  * 

BOETHIUS  ( Anicius  Manlius  Torquatus  Severinus), 
the  most  learned  and  almost  the  only  Latin  philosopher  of 
bii  time,    descended  from  an  ancient  and  noble  family, 
neiany  of  his  ancestors  having  been  senators  and  consuls, 
was  born  at  Rome  in  the  year  455.     Though  deprived  of 
his  father  the  year  he  was  born  by  the  cruelty  of  ValenA. 
tinian  III.  who  caused  him  to  be  put  to  death,  his  relations 
look  all  proper  care  of  his  education,  and  inspired  hioi 
with  an  early  taste  for  philosophy  and  the  belles-lettres. 
They  sent  him  afterwards  to  Athens,  where  he  remained 
eighteen  years,    and  made  surprising  progress   in  every 
branch  of  literature,  particularly  philosophy  and  mathe- 
saatics,  in  which  Plato,  Aristotle,  Euclid,   and  Ptolemy, 
were  his  favourite  authors.     During  this  course  of  educa- 
tion, he  was  not  less  distinguished  for  probity  and  hu- 
manity, than  for  genius,  and  learning..    On  his  return  to 
Rome,  he  attracted  the  public  attention,  as  one  born  to 
promote  the  happiness  of  society.     The  most  eminent  men 
in  the  city  sought  his  friendship,  foreseeing  that  his  merit 
would  soon  advance  him  to  the  first  employments  of  the^ 
.fttate.      His   alliance,    too,    was  consequently  courted  by 
many,  but  Elpis,  descended  from  one  of  the  most  con* 
siderable  families  of  Messina,  was  the  lady  on  whom  Boe- 
thins  fixed   his  choice.      This  lady  was   learned,  highly 
accomplished,  and  virtuous.     She  bore  him  two  sons,  Pa- 
tricius    and  Hypatius.     Boethius,   as  was  expected,    ob- 
tained the  highest  honour  his  country  could  bestow.     He 
was  made  Qonsul  in  the  year  487,  at  the  age  of  thirty-two. 
Odoacer,  king  of  the  Heruli,  reigned  at  that  time  in  Italy, 
who,  after  having  put  to  death  Orestes,  and  deposed  his 
son  Augustulus,  the  last  emperor  of  the  West,  assumed 
the. title  of  king  of  that  country. 

>  Baiilet'f  Les  Enfani  cekbres.— BiOj^*  Uiiir«rie11e.— Diet.  Hist. 


510  B  O  E  T  H  I  U  S. 

Two  years  after  Boethius^s  advancement  to  the  dignity 
of  consul,  Theodoric,  king  of  the  Goths,  invaded  Italy ; 
and,  having  conquered  Odoacer  and  put  him  to  death,  he 
in  a  short  time  made  himself  master  of  that  country,  and 
£xed  the  seat  of  his  government  at  Ravenna,  as  Odoacer 
and  several  of  the  later  western  emperors  had  done  before 
him.      The  Romans  and    the  inhabitants  of  Italy  were 
pleased  with  the  government  of  Theodoric,  because  he 
wisely  ruled  them  by  the  same  laws,  the  same  polity,  and 
the  same  magistrates  they  were  accustomed  to  under  thd 
emperors.     In  the  eighth  year  of  this  prince's  reign,  Boe- 
thius  had  the  singular  felicity  of  beholding  his  two  sons, 
Patricius  and   Hypatius,  raised  to   the   consular  dignity.' 
During  their  continuance  in  office,    Theodoric  dame  t6 
Rome,  where  he  had  been  long  expected,  and  was  re- 
ceived by  the  senate  and  people  with  the  greatest  demon- 
strations of  joy.   Boethius  made  him  an  eloquent  panegyric 
in  the  senate ;  which  the  king  answered  in  the  most  ob- 
liging terms,    declaring  that  he  should  ever  have   thei 
greatest  respect  for  that  august  assembly,  and  would  never 
encroach  upon  any  of  their  privileges. 

Boethius  was  advanced  a  second  time  to  the  dignity  of 
consul,  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  the  reign  of  king  Theo- 
doric.    Power  and  honour  could  not  have-been  conferred 
upon  a  person  more  worthy  of  them  :  for  he  was  both  an 
excellent  magistrate  and  statesman,  as  he  faithfully  and 
assiduously  executed  the  duties   of  his  office;  and  em- 
ployed, upon  every  occasion,  the  great  influence  he  had 
at  court,  in  protecting  the  innocent,  relieving  the  needy, 
and  in  procuring  the  redress  of  such  grievances  as  gave 
just  cause  of  complaint.     The  care  of  public  affairs  did  - 
not  how;ever  engross  his  whole  attention.     This  year,  as 
he  informs  us  himself,  he  wrote  his  commentary  upon  the 
Predicaments,  or  the  Ten  Categories  of  Aristotle.     In  imi- 
tation of  Cato,  Cicero,  and  Brutus,  he  devoted  the  whole 
of  his  time  to  the  service  of  the  commonwealth,  and  to  the 
cultivation  of  the   sciences.     He  published  a  variety  of 
writings,  in  which  he  treated  upon  almost  every  branch  of 
literature.     Besides  the  commentary  upon  Aristotle's  Ca- 
tegories, he  wrote  an  explanation  of  that   philosopher's 
Topics,  in  eight  books ;  another,  of  hfs  Sophisms,  in  two 
books;  and  commentaries  upon  many  other  parts  of  his 
writings.     He  translated  the  whole  of  Plato's  works :  he 
wrote  a  commentary,  in  six  books,  upon  Cicero's  Topics  : 


B  0  E  T  H  I  U  S.  511 

he  commented  also  upon  Porphyry's  writings :  he  pub- 
lished a  discourse  on  Rhetoric,  in  one  book ;  a  treatise  on 
Arithmetic,  in  two  books ;  and  another,  in  five  books, 
upon  Music  :  he  wrote  three  books  upon  Geometry,  the 
last  of  which  is  lost :  he  translated  Euclid ;  and  wrote  a 
tresctise  upon  the  quadrature  of  the  circle ;  neither  of  which 
performances  are  now  extant ;  he  published  also  transla-> 
f ions  of  Ptolomy  of  Alexandria's  works ;  and  of  the  writings 
of  thfe  celebrated  Archimedes :  and  several  treatises  upon 
theological  and  metaphysical  subjects,  which  are  still  pre- 
served. 

;  The  learning  displayed  in  these  works  procured  Boethius 
such  reputation  that  he  was  frequently  visited  by  persons 
of  the  first  rank.  Among  these  Gondebald,  king  of  the 
Burgundians,  who  had  married  a  daughter  of  Theodoric, 
came  to  Rome  for  the  purpose  of  conversing  with  so  emi- 
nent a  philosopher.  Boethius  shewed  him  several  curious 
thechanicar  works  of  his  own  invention,  particularly  two 
watches  or  time-keepers,  one  of  which  pointed  out  the 
sun's  diurnal  and  annual  motion  in  the  ecliptic,  upon  a 
moveable  sphere ;  and  the  other  indicated  the  hours  of  the 
day,  by  the  expedient  of  water  dropping  out  of  one  vessel 
into  another :  and  so  fond  was  Gondebald  of  these  pieces 
of  mechanism,  that  upon  his  return  to  his  own  country, 
he  dispatched  ambassadors  to  Theodoric,  praying  that  he 
would  procure  for  him  the  two  wonderful  time-keepers  he 
had  seen  at  Rome. 

During  the  course  of  these  transactions,  Boethius  lost 
his  beloved  wife  Elpis,  but  ma^/ied  a  second  time  Rusti- 
tiana,  the  daughter  of  Symmachus,  and  was  elected  con- 
sul with  his  father  in  law,  in  the  thirtieth  year  of  Theo- 
doric's  reign ;  and  it  was  during  this  consulship  that  he 
fell  under  the  displeasure  of  king  Theodoric.  Rich  in 
health,  affluence,  domestic  happiness,  and  the  love  of  his 
fellow  citizens,  and  the  highest  reputation,  all  these  cir- 
cumstances probably  contributed  in  some  degree  to  acce- 
lerate his  ruin.  King  Theodoric,  who  had  long  held  him 
in  the  highest  esteem,  was  an  Ariau  ;  and  Boethius,  who  • 
■was  a  catholic,  published  about  this  time  a  book  upon  the 
unity  of  the  Trinity,  in  opposition  to  the  three  famous 
4iects  of  Arians,  Nestorians,  and  Eutychians.  This  trea- 
tise was  universally  read,  and  created  our  author  a  great 
many  enemies  at  court ;  who  insinuated  to  the  prince,  that 
Boethius  wanted  not  only  to  destroy  Arianism,   but   to 


Sl2  B  O  E  T  H  I  U  a 

effectuate  a  change  of  government,  and  deliver  Italy  {torn 
the  dominion  of  the  Goths ;  and  that,  from  his  great  credit 
and  influence,  lie  was  the  most  likely  person  to  bring  about 
fiuch  a  revolution. — Whilst  his  enemies  were  thus  busied 
at  Ravenna,  they  employed  emissaries  to  sow  the  seeds  of 
discontent  at  Rome,  and  to  excite  factious  people  openly 
to  oppose  him  in  the  exercise  of  his  office  as  consul.  Boe« 
thius,  in  the  mean  while,  wa\iting  no  other  reward  thaa 
a  sense  of  his  integrity,  laboured  both  by  his  eloquence  ' 
and  his  authority  to   defeat  their  wicked  attempts ;  and 

{persisted  resolutely  in  his  endeavours  to  promote  the  piib- 
ic  welfare,  by  supporting  the  oppressed,  and  bringing . 
offenders   to  justice.      But  his   integrity   and  steadiness 
tended  only  to  hasten  his  fall.    King  Theodoric^  corr^ipted 
probably  by  a  long  series  of  good  fortune,  began  now  to 
throw  off  the  mask.     Though  an  Arian,  he  had  hitherto 
preserved  sentiments  of  moderation  and  equity  with  regard 
to  the  catholics;   but  fearing,  perhaps,  that  they  had  a 
view  of  overturning  his  government,  he  begar>  now  to  treat 
them  with  severity,  and  Boethius  was  one  of  the  first}  that 
fell  a  victim  to  his  rigour.     He  had  continued  long  in  fi^r 
vour  with  his  prince,  and  was  more  beloved  by  him  tbfia 
any  other  person  ;  but  neither  the  remembrance  of  forj 
mer  affection,  nor  the  absolute  certainty  the  king  bad  of 
his  innocence,  prevented  him  from  prosecuting  our  philo- 
sopher, upon  the  evidence  of  three  abandoned  profligat;es, 
infamous  for  all  manner  of  crimes.     The  offences  laid  to 
his  charge,  as  we  are  informed  in  the  first  book  of  the 
Consolation  of  Philosophy,  were,  '*  That  he  wished  to  pr^ 
serve  the  senate  and  its  authority:  that  he  hindered. aa 
informer  from  producing  proofs,  which  would  have  conr 
victed  that  assembly  of  treason  :  and   that  he  form^ed  a^ 
scheme  for   the  restoration  of  the   Roman  liberty."   .Iq, 
proof  of  the  last  article,  the  above  mentioned  profligates* 
produced  letters  forged  by  themselves,  which  they  falsely 
averred  were  written "  by  Boethius.     for  these  supposed 
crimes,  as  we  learn  from  the  same  authority,  he  was,  un- 
heard and  undefended,  at  the  distance  of  five   hundred 
miles,  proscribed  and  condemned  to  death.  —  Theodoric, 
conscious  that  his  severity  would  be  universally  blamed^ 
did  not  at  this  time  carry  his  sentence  fully  into  execution^ 
but   contented   himself  with    confiscating  Boethius^s   elf 
fects,  with  banishing  him  to  Pavia,  and  confining  him  t^ 
prison. 


P  Q  £  T  H  I  U  9.  619 

Soon  after  this,  Juetia,  the  catbdUc  enip^ror  of  the  East, 
finding  himself  thoroughly  established  upon  the  throne^ 
published  au  edict  against  the  Aristfis,  depriving  tbem  of 
all  their  churches.  Thebdoric  was  highly  offended  at 
this  edict  ^He  ol>liged  pope  John  I.  together  with  four 
of  the  principal  senators  of  Rome  (one  of  whom  was  Sym-* 
machus^  father-in-law  to  Boethius),  to  go  on  an  embassy  to  • 
Constantinople ; .  and  commanded  them  to  threaten  that  he 
would  abolish  the  catholic  religion  througiiout  Italy,  if  the 
emperor  did  not  immediately  revoke  his  edict  •against  the 
Arians.  John  was  received  at  Constantinople  with  extraor* 
diiiary  pomp,  but  being  able  to  produce  no  effect  as  to 
the  object  of  his  embassy,  on  his  return,  Theodoric  threw 
him  and  his  colleagues  into  prison  at  Ravenna,  and  Boe-» 
thius  was  ordered  to  be  more  strictly  confined  at  Pavia* 
It  was  here  that  he  wrote  his  five  books  of  the  ^^  Consola- 
(tion  of  Philosophy,*'  on  which  his  fame  chiefiy  rests.  He 
liad  scarcely  concluded  his  work,  when  pope  John  being 
famished  to  death  in  prison,  and  Symmachus  and  the  othetf 
senators,  put  to  death,  Theodoric  ordered  Boethius  to 
be  beheaded  in  prison,  which  was  accordingly  executed 
Oct.  23,  526.  His  body  was  interred  by  the  inhabitanta 
of  Pavia,  in  the  church  of  St.  Augustine^  near  to  the  steps 
of  the  chancel,  where  his  monument  was  to  be  seen  until 
the  last  century,  when  that  church  was  destroyed. 

His  most  celebrated  production,  his  ethic  composition 
'^  De  Consolatione  Philosophise,'*  has  always  been  admired 
both  f6r  the  style  and  sentiments.     It  is  an  imaginary  con-» 
ference  between  the  author  and  philosophy  personitied, 
who  endeavours  to  console  and  soothe  him  iahis  afflictions. 
The  topics  of  consolation  contained  iu  this  work,  are  de-^ 
duced  from  the  tenets  of  Plato,  Zeno,  and  Aristotle,  but 
without  any  notice  of^the  sources  of  consolation  which  are 
peculiar  to  the  Christian  system,  which  have  led  many  to 
think  him  more  of  a  Stoic  than  a  Christian.     It  is  partly  in 
pirose,  and  partly  in  verse  ;  and  was  translated  into  Saxon 
by  king  Alfred,  and  illustrated  with  a  commentary  by  As- 
•er,  bishop  of  St.  David's ;  and  into  English,  by  Chaucer 
and  queen  Elizabeth.     It  was  also  translated  into  English 
verse  by  John  Walton,  in  1410,  of  which  translation  there 
is  a  correct  manuscript  on  parchment  in  the  British  Ma«* 
fleum.     Few  books  have  been  more  popular,  especially  in 
the  middle  ages,  or  have  passed  through  a  greater  number 
of  Alitions  in  almost  all  languages.     It  has  been  observed 

Vol.  V.  L  L 


L 


SI*  B  O  E  T  H  I  l;  9. 

by  Mr.  Harrisi  in  his  '<  Hermes^^'  that  <^  with  Boethias  the 
L^tin  tongue,  and  the  last  remains  of  Roman  dignity,  may 
be  said  to  have  sunk  in  thef  western  world."  To  the  same 
purpose,  Gibbon  says,  '^  that  the  senator  Boethius  is  the 
last  of  the  Romans  wbomCato.or  Tally  would  have  ac- 
knowledged for  their  countryman." 

Ttie  first  edition  of  Boetbius  "  De  Consolatione'*  was 
printed  at  Nurimherg,  1476,  fol.  but  ther&  was  an  edition 
in  Latin  and  Get^nan,  primed  at  the  same  place  in  1473. 
The  best  edition  of  his  whole  works  is  that  printed  at  Ba- 
sil, 1370,.  2  T0I3.  fol.  In  17S5,  his  Consolation  was  trans- 
lated into  English,  with  notes  and  illustrations,  by  the  rev. 
Philip  Uidpatb,  minister  of  Hutton  in  Berwickshire,  Lon- 
don, 8vo.  *  . 

BOETHIUS,  BOECE,  or  BOEIS  (Hectok),  a  cele- 
brated  Scotch  historian,  was  born  at  Dundee,  in  the  shire 
of  Angus,  about  1470.  After  having  studied  at  Dundee 
and  Aberdeen,  he  was  sent  to  the  university  of  Paiis,  where 
be  applied  to  philosophy,  and  became  a  professor  of  it 
there.  There  also  he  contracted  an  acquaintance  with  se- 
veral eminent  persons,  {iarticularly  with  Erasmus,  wbp  kept 
a  correspondence  with  him  afterwards.  Elpbinston,  bishop 
of  Aberdeen,  having  founded  the  king's  college  in  that 
city  about  UOU,  setit  for  Boeis  from  Paris,  and  appointed 
him  principal.  He  took  for  his  colleague  Mr.  Williain 
Hay,  and  by  their  joint  labour  the  kingdom  was  furnished 
with,  several  emipeut  scholars.  Upon  the  death  of  his  pa- 
tron, he  undertook  to  write  hia  life^  and  those  of  his  pre- 
decessors in  that  see.  'J'he  work  is  in  Latin,  and  entitled 
*^  Vita;  £piscopoi*um  Murthlacensium  et  Aberdonensium," 
Paris,  1522,  4to.  He  begins  at  Beanus,  the  first  bishop, 
and  ends  at  Gawin  Dunbar,  who  was  bishop  when  the  book 
was  published.  A  third  part  of  th^  work  is  spent  in  the 
life  of  Elphinston,  for  whose  sake  it  was  undertaken.  He 
next  undertook  t«  write  in  the  same  language  the  history  of 
Hcutland  :  the  hrst  edition  of  which  was  printed  at  Pari^  by 
Badius  Ascensius  in  1526,  which  consisted  of  seventeen 
books,  and  ended  witli  the  death  of  James  I.  btit  the  next 
in  1574  was  uHich  enlarged,  iiaving  the  addition  of  the 
18th  book  and  part  of  the  19th  :  the  work  was  afterwards 
l>rought  down  to  the  reign  of  James  IIL  by  Ferrerius,  a 

*  Gen,  Diet.— Cavc»,  vol,  f.— Hupin.^— Bfiiok«»r..r— Uf«  prefixed  to  'Kidpath'i 
TTAii»t»tioti. — Dibdtn*s   Cbsxiofi  — >Pif  ytag  A<lpai«t.  LU.'««»^Fai>ric.  fiibl. 
Jlufiiey**  ttut  t^  MHk'tQ,  -vol.  li.—SoJiii  OBa»Mfc.coB. 


B  6  E  T  H  I  U  a  515 

Fiedmontese.  It  was  translated  by  Bellendeni  (See  Bel* 
LfeNDEN,  John).  Mackenzie  observes,  tbat  of  all  Scots 
bUtorians,  next  to  Buchanan,  Boethius  has  been  the  most 
censured  and  oonimentled  bv  the  learned  men  who  have 
mentioned  him.  Nicolson  tells  ns^  tbat  in  the  6rst  six 
books  there  are  ^  great  many  pnrticulars  not  to  be  found 
in  Fordun  or  any  otner  writer  now  extant ;  and  that,  "  un- 
less the  autiiors  which  he  pretends  to  have  seen  be  here* 
after  discovered,  he  will  continue  to  be  shrewdly  suspected 
for  the  contriver  of  almost  as  many  tales  as  Jeo6Prey  of 
Monmouth."  His  18ih  book,  however,  is  highly  com-« 
mended  by  Ferrerius,  who  says,  "  that  he  has  treated  of 
things  there  in  s6  comprehensive  a  manner,  that"  he  be- 
lieves no  one  could  have  done  it  more  fully  or  significantly 
on  the  same  subject."  His  style,  says  another  writer,  has 
all  the  purity  oJr  Caesar's,  and  is  so  nervous  both  in  the 
reflections  and  diciioii,  that  he  seems  to  have  absolutely 
entered  into  the  spirit  pf  Livy,  and  made  it  his  own.  'Eras- 
iDus,  who  was  intimately  acquainted  with  him,  says,  in 
one  of  his  epistles,  "  that  he  was  a  man  of  an  extraordi- 
nary happy  genius,  and  of  great  eloquence.'*  "  He  was 
certainly,"  sa^'s  another  writer,  "  a  great  master  of  polite 
learning,  well  skilled  in  divinity,  philosoph}',  and  history; 
but  somewhat  credulous,  and  much  addicted  to  the  be- 
lief of  legendary  stories.  With  regard  to  his  other  accom- 
plishments, he  was  discreet,  well-bred,  attentive,  generous, 
affahle,  and  courteous."  Dr.  Johnson  in  his  Tour  in  Scot- 
land observes  that  Hector  Boethius  may  be  "justly  reve- 
renced as  one  of  the  revivers  of  elegant  learning.  The 
style  of  Boethius,  though,  perhaps,  not  always  rigorously 
pure,  is  formed  with  great  diligence  upon  ancient  models, 
and  wholly  uninfected  with  monastic  barbarity.  His  hisi^ 
tory  is  written  with  elegance  and  vigour,  but  his  fabulous- 
ness and  credulity  are  justly  blamed.  His  fabulousnes.% 
if  he  was  the  author  of  the  fictions,  is  a  fault  for  which  no 
apology  can  be  made  ;  but  bis  credulity  may  be  excused 
in  an  age  wh^n  all  men  were  credulouis.  Learning  was 
then  rising  on  the  world;  but  ageis,  so  long  accustomed  to 
,  darkness,  were  too  much  dazzled  with  its  light  to  see  any 
thing  distinctly.  The  first  race  of  scholars,  hi  the  fifteenths 
.Q&nuiryf  and  some  time  after,  were,  for  the  liiost  part, 
learning  to  speak,  rather  than  to  think,  arid  wer^  there- 
fere;  more  studious  of  elegance  than  of  truth.  The  con- 
temporaries of  Boethius  thought  it  sufficient  to  know  what 

L  L  2 


Sl«  BDETHIUS. 

"th^  ancients  had  delivered.  The  exsmtination  ef '  tisnete 
5and  'of  fects  was  reserved  for  another  generationJ'  * 

BOPFRAND  (Gbrmain),  a  celebrated  iTreiych  architect, 
was  the  son  of  a  sculptor,  and  of  a  sister  of  the  £imou)5 
Qt]inault,'and  born  at  Names  in  Bretagne,  May  7,  L667, 
He  was  trained  under  Harduin  Mansard,  who  trusted  him 
ixrith  conducting  his  greatest  works.  Boffrand  was  admitted 
4fito  the  French  academy  of  architecture  in  1709 :  many 
prinrces  of  Germany  chose  him  for  tlieir  arcttftcct,  and 
raised  considerable  edifices  upon  his  plans.  His  miaii«er  of 
buildiiYg  approached  that  of  Palladio  ;  and  there  was  much 
lof  grandeur  in  all  his  designs.  As  engineer  and  inspector* 
general  of  the  bridges  and  highways,  he  caused  to  be  con- 
vtmcted  a  nutnber  of  canals,  sluices,  bridges^  add  other 
^mechanical  works.  There  is  of  this  iUuatrious  architect  a 
usurious  a^id  useful  book,  whiich  contains  the  general  prin^ 
tip\es  of  his  art ;  to  which  is  added  an  account  of  tbe  plans, 
-piy^files,  and  elevations  of  the  principal  works  which  be 
t^xecnted  in  Franfce  and  other  countries,  entitled  **  Livre 
4* Architecture,  &€."  fol.  1745,  with  seventy  {dates.  He 
'p«iblisfaed  also  an  account  of  the  casting  the  bronze  figure 
of  Louis  XIV.  **  Description  de  ce  qui  a  et6  pratiqu^  poor 
fondre  en  bronze,  &c.*'  1743,  fid.  with  plattes^  In  his 
private  icharacter,  Bofirand  is  represented  as  of  a  noble 
and  disinterested  spirit,  and  of  a  pleasing  and  agreeable 
-fiffaniier.  He  died  at  Paris,  March  18,  1754,  dean  of  the 
^academy  of  architecture,  first  engineer  and  inspector* 
geniferal  of  the  bridges  and  highways,  architect  atid  ad- 
ministmtor  of  the  general  hospital*  * 

B0GAN  (ZACHAhY),  a  leatued  and  pious  writer  tff  the 

seventeenth  centuty,  was  the  son  c^  William  Bogasi,  g^n« 

tleman,  and  bom  at  Little  Hempston  in  D^onshire,  about 

-the  feast  of  St.  John  th«  Baptist  in  d)e  year  1625,     Be 

rbeca^e  a  commoner  of  St.  Alban  hall  under  the  tuition  of 

Mr.  Rii;lph  Button  in  Michaelmas  ter0i  in  16^40.    He  was 

admitted  a  s^iolar  pf  Corpus  Christi  college  November  the 

'26th  the  yfear  fdlowing,  and  ieft  the  univer^ty  when  the 

city  of  Oxford  was  garrisoned  for  the  king,  iind  returned 

nfter  the  sori^nderof  it  to  the  parliaoyenu    October  24, 

1646,  he  took  the  degree  of  badbekx:  of  arts,  and  vrm 

•feietted  probaftioner  fiSbw  of  his  college  the  year  fbllour- 

^  Mackenzie's  Lives^  vol.  11.  p.  376.-«Bios.  Brit.— NicoUoa's  Hist.  LflNwry. 
— Johnson's  Works. 
-  *  Diet  fli^-»-Bh>s:.  UktiTtmH#. 


B  O  G  A  N.  Itl 

mg.  Noyember  19,  1650,  he  took  th^  <l0gife<9  of  pias^i^ 
of  arts,  and  became  a  retired  aiul  religious  student,  and 
disteoguisbed  in  the  university  for  bis  adoiir^bla  skitUutha 
toiigues.  At  last,  having  contrasted  an  iU  babit  oC  body 
by  his  iute^^se  application  to  bis  studies,  be. died  Septemri 
bbr  1,  1659,  and  was  interred  in  the  middle  of  the  nortji 
eloist^  belonging  to  Corpus  Cbrinti  coU^ge^  joining  tQ 
the  south  side  of  tbe  ohapel  there.  *^  At  that  time  aud 
before,^*  Wood  informs  us,  '^  the  nation  being  very  unrr 
tettled,  and  the  university  expecting  notbiug  bqt;  vmifi  an4 
dissbiutioD^  it  pleased  Mr«  Bqgan  to.  give  by  his  will  to  tbe 
city  of  Oxford  five  hundred  pounds ;  whereas  bad  the  na? 
tibn  been  odierwia<^  he  would  have  given  that  money  y^ 
bis  eoil^e.''  An  original  picture  of  him  is  to.be.  fi^^a  in 
the  guild-hall  of  the  city  of  Oxford.  Mr.  Wood  add% 
tteil  he  was  an  exeelleot  tiitor^  but  a  zealous  purijtai) ;  add 
in  bis  Hist.  &,  Anitq.  Umvers.  Oxos;.  be  gives  him ,  thf 
character  of  vir  studipsus  et  linguaniyn  perUis^iim^y  a  $t»ir 
dious  person,  and  well  skilled  in  the  k^i^uage^^  i^)  wbi^ 
lipinioa  some  learned  fc»eigners  who  have,  vead  bi^  vtHi>rkA 
coucur.  He  wrote,  1.  Additions,  in  iom  booths,  ti>  J^r^nc^ 
Roup's  ^  Archaeobgis^  AtticsB,"  the  fifth  ^ditiop  c^  wbkb 
was  published  at  Oxford,  1658,  4to.  These  pddiitiQB^  ret 
late  to  tbe'ciTstomf  of  the  ancient  Greeks  nxm^mages, 
b)}rial$^  feasts^  &c. ;  at  the  close  of  whieb^  Mr.  Begaii>  with 
great  simplicity  of  liianner,  giv^s  bAs  ^»9»om  im  under^ 
taking  tbe  work  c  ^*  Tbe  cords,"  be  says,  **  wbkb  dreiv 
m^  to  do  it  (and  drawn  I  was)  were  itlpo'^e,  ^u^h  iis^  t^wi^ed 
together,  I  could  by  no  means  bre^k ;  via.  l.Tbe.impQr- 
tunity  of  my  friendL  2.  Tbe  necjes^ty  of  the  knowledge 
vS  ancient  rites  and  customs  for  the  undeffstandiiig  of  aut 
thors.  And,  3.  the  hopes,  which  I  had  by  employmenJ^  (aK 
by  an  issue)  to  divert  my  bumouir  of  mebncboly  a^pther 
^ay.  The  causes  why  1  did  it  no  better  are.  as  many,  vi?i 
1.  Want  of  years  and  judgment,  having  done  the  m^t  part 
of  it  in  mj  Tyrocinium  (when  I  took  more  delight  in  tbeae 
studies)  as  appears  by  the  number  of  the  authors,  whiieb  I 
have  cited.  ^.  Want  of  health.  And,  3.  want  of  time  and 
leisure,  being  called  away  by  occasions  that  might  not  he 
neglected,'  and  by  friends  that  could  not  be  disobeyed.  If 
yet  I  have  given  but  little  light,  and  my  labour  and  oil  be 
not  all  lost,  I  have  as  much  as  I  desired  myself,  and  thou 
hast  no  more  than  I  ,owed  thee.*'  2.  **  A  view  of  the 
Threats  and  Punishments  recorded  in  Scripture  alphabetic 


Hi  B  O  G  A  N. 

cally  composed,  with  some  brief  observations  on  sundry 
texts/*  Oxford,  1653,  8vo.  3.  <*  Meditations  of  tlie  mirth 
Of  a  Christian  Life,"  Oxford,  1^53,  8vo.  4.  "  Help  to 
Prayer  both  extempore  and  by  a  set  form ;  as  also  to  Me- 
ditation," &c.  Oxford,  1660,  12roo,  published  after  the 
author's  death  by  Daniel  Agas,  fdlow  of  Corpus  Cfaristi 
college.  Our  author  also  wrote  a  large  and  learned  epistle 
to  Mr.  Edmund  Dickenson,  M.  A.  of  Merton  college,  pre* 
fished  to  that  gentleman*s  book,  entitled  '<  Delphi  Pltoe- 
tiicizantes,  &c.'*  published  at  Oxford,  1655,  in  8vo..  And 
^^  Homerus  'EC^o/fay ;  siVe  comparatio  Homericum  scrtpto- 
ribus  sacris  quoad  Normam  loquendi.''  In  the  preface  he 
declares  that  it  is  not  his  intention  to  make  any  comparison 
between  the  sacred  writers  and  their  opinions  and  Homer, 
but  only  of  their  idioms  and  ways  of  speaking.  To  this 
book- is  added  Hesiodus '0/bc>}fi{«y ;  wherein  be  shews  bow 
Hesiod  expresses  himself  very  much  after  the  same  manner 
with  Homer,  Oxford,  1658,  8vo.  He  designed  likewise 
to  publish  a  discourse  concerning  the  Greek  particles;  but 
be  was  prevented  by  sickness  from  completing  it;  and 
another  treatise  concerning  the  best  use  of  the  Greek  and 
l^tin  poets.  Freytag  has  bestowed  an  article  ob  his 
treatise  on  Homer's  style. ' 

BOGDEN,  or  BOGDANUS  (Martin),  a  favoured  pu- 
pil  of  T.  Bartholioe,  and  strenuous  defender  of  his  fame 
and  opinions,  was  born  at  rDresden,  about  the  year  L630, 
After  visiting  France,  England, '  and  other  parts  of  Europe, 
to  improve  himself  in  knowledge,  he  took  the  degree  of 
doctor  in  medicine  at  Basle  in  Swisserland,  in  165i^,  and  at 
the  end  of  four  or  five  years,  passed  principally  with  Bar- 
tboline,  to  whom  he  was  strongly  attached,  he  settled  at 
Bern.  His  works  are  principally  controversial,  defending 
the  priority  of  the  discovery  of  the  lymphatics  by  Bartho- 
line,  against  Rudbeck  the  Swede,  who  claimed  it;  and 
who,  if  he  did  not  discover  them,  Haller  says,  has  the 
merit  of  having  more  fully  and  accurately  described  them 
than  Barthoiine  had  done.  Bogden,  in  this  contest,  dis- 
played much  learning,  but  equal  roughness  and  ilUhumour. 
The  titles  of  his  works  are,  ^^  Kiidbekii  insidise  structae 
vasis  lympbaticis  ThomsD  Bartbohni,^^  4to,  and  '-'Apologia 
pro  vasis  lymphaticis  Bsirtbolini,  adversusinsidias  secundq 

.  ^  Ath.  Ox.  vol.  II.—- Prince's  Worthies  of  Devon. — Gen.  Pict.<^Freyta#  Ad> 
p&rat  Lilt.— Sazii  OnojDwUcon, 


^  O  G  D  E  N.  «19 

fctructas  ab  01a6  Rndbek.''  HaffniaB,  1654,  12mo.  <*  SU 
meonis  8etb,  de  alimenftorum  facultatibus,"  Gr.  and  Lat» 
1658,  dvo.  *<  Observation's  Medicas  ad  Thotnam  Batii.^' 
The  observations,  twelve  in  number^  are  published  in  tbe 
♦*  Cuker  Anatoniicus"  of  Lyser  ;  Copenh.  1-665.  * 

BOHADfN,  or  BOHA^EDDYN,  an  Arabian  bisCorian 
of  great  note,  bom  March  114-5,  was  celebrated  for  his 
Life  of  Saladin,  in  whose  '  conrt  he  flourished  in  the 
twelfth  century.  What  makes  bis  history  pariicuiarlyva* 
luable,  is  his  being  contemporary  to  the  events  he  writes ; 
and  his  being  also  a  favourite  of  Saladin's,  constantly  about 
his  person,  and  high  in  office.  He  is  very,  accurate  in  bis 
account  of  the  crusades,  and  Saladin^s  taking  of  Jerusa* 
)em ;  and  mentions  our  llichard  I.  who  made  such  a  fi- 
gure as  Saladtn*s  aiitagonist.  The  accurate  Scbujtens  has 
published  a  very  excellent  edition  in  folio,  with  much  eru- 
dition, Leyden,  1732  ;  the  same  was  published  in-1755, 
but  only  with  a  new  title  of  that  date.  It  has  been  ob« 
served  by  an  able  critic,  that  this  historian,  Abulpharagius, 
and  Abulfeda,  bear  much  resemblance  to  Plutarch ;  as 
they  have  enrichecj  their  histories  with  so  many  striking 
anecdotes  and  curious  information  on  the  progress  and  state 
of  literature  in  their  respective  ages  and  countries.* 

BOHN,  or  BOHNIUS  (John),  a  physician  of  consi- 
derable reputation  in  the  seventeenth  century,  was  born  at 
I^ipsic  in  1640,*  and  began  his  studies  there,  and  at  Jena. 
In  1663  he  travelled  in  Denmark,  Holland,  England,  and 
France,  and  returned  by  the  way  of  Swisserland  in  1665, 
The  following  year  he  took  his  degree  of  M.  D.  and  in  1668 
was  promoted  to  the  anatomical  chair  at  Leipsic.  In  1691 
he  was  appointed  city-physician,  and  in  1691  professor*  of 
therapeutics.  In  1700  he  was  dean  of  the  faculty,  and 
after  a  prosperous  career,  both  as  a  physician  and  writer, 
died  in  1718.  His  principal  works  are,  1.  ^^  De  Alkali  et 
Acidi  insufRcientia  pro  principiorum  corporum  naturalium 
munere  gerendo,*'  Leipsic,  1673,  8vo.  2. '*  Dissertationes 
chettiico-physiCBB,"  ibid.  1685,  4to,  1696,  8vo.  8.  "  Me- 
ditationes  physico-chemical  de  aerisin  sublunaria  influxu,*' 
ibid.  1678,  8vo;  1685,  4to.  4.  "  De  duumviratu  hypo- 
chondriorum,'*  -ibid.  1689,  4to.  5.  **  Observatio  atque  ex- 
perimenta  circa  usum'  spiritus  vini  externum  in  haemorragiis 
sistendis^"  Leipsic^  1683,  4to.     6.   ^*  Exercitationes  pbj^- 

*  Reet'i  Cy eloped  ia.-*»Biog.  Vniverselle.  *  Bio|^.  t7QiT.-r-Dick.  H:«t. 


920 


B  O  H  N. 


siologicflB,  ibid  1680,  1686, 1697  and  1710,  4to;  7,  <<  D^ 
officio  medici  dupiici,  clinini  aioiirum  ac  forensis,*'  Leip- 
sic,  1689,  1704,  4  vols.  4to,  a  work  of  great  merit.  8.  *^  De 
renuDciatione  vulnenim  LetbaittMa  examen,^  ibid.  1689,  Svo, 
often  reprinted.  Bobn,  altfaough  not  arriving  at  tbe  con* 
elusions  of  more  modem  and  scientific  pby^iciana,  fre- 
quently approacbes  tbem  tbrougb  the  mediuai  of  sounit 
and  experimental  knowledge.  These  last  oieouonod  works 
on  medicine,  as  connected  with  legal  evidence,  aie  par? 
tkularly  valuable. '  ^    . 


*  Biog.  lAHvenene,— Moreri.— Haller. 


Hli">  '    4 


5*5 


mi  »  ■!>■  9 


f       i 


INDEX 

TO   THB 

FIFTH   VOLUME, 

Those  iMi^ied  tkos  *  are  new.'' 
Those  marked  f  are  re-written^  with  additiotis. 


Benvenuti,  Charles 1 

♦ Joseph  .'.■ 2 

♦BenyowsTiy,  Count 2 

*Benzel  de  Sternau 90 

^Benzelius,  Eric 21 

* Eric,  (son) ib. 

*-— Henry 22 

^Berizoni,  Jerom 23 

Beolco^  Angelo ib. 

*Berardier,  F.  J ib. 

^Beraud,  Laurence 24 

fBerauld,  Nicholas 26 

*Berault-Bercastel ib. 

* Michael ^27 

* Claude ib. 

* Josias .' . . .  ib, 

^Berchem,  Nicholas '. .  ib. 

*Berchet,  Peter 29 

♦Berchorius,  Peter 30 

^Bferckringer,  Daniel 31 

^Ber^ani,  Nicholas. ib. 

fBerengarius,  James 32 

^  t archdeacon  ...  33 

♦Berenger  de  la  Toitr 34 

* John  Peter ib. 

* Ricliard 35 

Berenicius, 36 

*Berg,  John  Peter ib. 

*Bergaaii,  Charles 37 

*— —  Louisa ib. 

^Bergantiniy  John  Peter  ....  38 

*Bergellanu8, 39 

^Bergen,  Charles  Aug ib. 

^Berger,  John  Henry 41 

♦ John  WiHiam ib. 

♦ Theodore  .. ., 42 

fBergerac^  Savinien ib. 

f  Bergier^  Nicholas 44 

.  * Nich.  Syl 45 

•Bergiiis,  J.  H.  L 47 


Page 

*Bergias,  Peter  Jonas ib, 

* Bengts .48 

*Bergler,  Stephen  . ib. 

^Bergman^  Toi-bern ....... .49 

Berigatd,  Claude .52 

fBering,  Vitas ib. 

Berkeley,  George 53 

,64 

* George,  earl  of, . .  67 

* Sir  Robert 68 

* Sff  William «9 

Be]ii:enhout,  John 70 

fBanaard,  St 73 

**  '     '■       of  Menthon 77 

* Andrew 78 

Catharine 79 

* Charles  .  ........  ib. 

* — : ^-  Claude -SO 

Edward 81 

* Sir  Francis 88 

-i Dr.  Francis 89 

James 90 

♦ John  Stephen . . .  .^ 

* John  Frederic . . . .  P3 

* Nicholas 94 

— '^ Peter  Joseph 96 

Richard 97 

* 98 

« Samuel . ib. 

^Bemardi  del  Castel,  John  .  11X> 
t John ib. 

Bemardine, 1<« 

*Bemaf  doni,  P.  A 103 

fBernazzano, 104 

*B<5megger,  Matthias ib. 

fB^fHers,  Juliana ib. 

fBetni,  Frantis 107 

^  Count  Francis llo 

fBemier,  Francis ib. 

John 112 


6«2  1  N  D 

Pasre 

*Betnier,  Nicholas ,..112 

f  Bernini,  Jdbak  Laurence . . . .  ib. 
♦Bernis,  F.J, -; 119 

Bernouilli,  James 1*29 

•j-— — — -  John 124 

f DanW 125 

*_: John 126 

♦Bemstoif,  J.  H.  E 127 

*Ber6ald,  Matthew 129 

.-«, Francis .130 

tBeroaldo,  Philip 131 

t^ Ph.  jun 133 

♦Beroldingen,  Francis 134 

♦Berosus,  ,  • 135 

*Berq\iin,  Arnaud ib. 

. — . Lewis 136* 

*BeiTetini,  Pietro 138 

fBerriman,  William  .. .  ^. . .  139 
♦J^rruguete,  Alunzo 142 

Bermyer,  Joseph  Isaac  . . . .  ib. 

Berry,  Sir  John 143 

* William ib. 

*Berryat,  John .147 

Bersniann,  Gregory . . . . . .  14^ 

•Bertaut,  John. ib. 

*BerteI,  John 149 

*Berthauld,  Peter ib. 

Bei-theau,  Charles  .  . .  i . . .  150 
fBerthet,  John ,. .  ib. 

Berthier,  William  F 151 

*Bertholon, 152 

*.1erthoud,  Ferd 153 

♦Berti,  Alex.  Pompey ......  15.4 

— —  John  Laurence 156 

*Bertie,  Robert ib. 

* Earl  of.  Abingdon . .  158 

Bertier,  Joseph  Stephen  . .  1^0 

*Bertin,  Aath ib. 

* Ex.  Jos ....161 

Nicholas 162 

♦Bertini,  Anth.  Fiancis ib. 

fBertiiis,  Peter 163 

*Bertoli,  John  Pom 16.4 

.*Berton,  Wilham 165 

*Bertoux,  William 166 

•Bertram,  Cora.  Bon ib. 

*f. Philip 167 

*Berti-and,,  Elias ib. 

'  .^,l.^ .John  Bap 168 

.  *Beilrahdi/J.  A*  M.  .  ^, . .  ,169 


EX/ 

Page 

BeruUc,  Peter 170 

*Beryllus, 171 

*Besier8,  Michael 17^ 

fBesler,  Basil ib. 

*., —  Michael  Robert ...  173 

fBesley,  John ^• 

•^Besoigne,  Jerome 174 

*Besohl,  Christ *.  . . ib- 

Besplas,  J.,M 175 

f  Bessarion,  John 17<> 

*Bessel,  Godfrey » ...  179 

*Beston  or  Besodunus ib. 

Betham,  Edward ISO 

Betterton,  Thomas 181 

*Betti,  Zachary 1^7 

♦Bettinelli,  Saverio 1S8 

*Bettini,  Mario 191 

*Betts,  John ib. 

*Betuleius,  Sixtus 1^'3 

*Betiissi,  Ja«eph it>» 

*Bever,  Thonaas 194 

i  Beveridge,  William 195 

^Beverini,  Bartholomew .  , .  203 

Bexerland,  Adrian 201 

♦Beverly,  John 2C2 

Beverwick,  John  , 205 

*Bevin,  Elway 205 

*Beughem,*Cornelius 2Q6 

*BeuIanius,  . 2Q7 

* Samuel ib. 

*Beumler,  Mark 203^ 

♦Beuther,  Michael ib. 

^exon^  Gabriel 20^ 

*Beyer,  August.  ......•..,  210 

* George ib. 

♦Beyerlinck,  Lam-ence 211 

*Bevnia,  Julius ib. 

«Beys^  Charles 212 

* Giles .ik 

fBeza,  Theodore i  213 

JBezout,  Stephen 2^1 

*Biacca,  F.  M 223 

*Biunchi,  Anth. .:.... 223 

* Francis  Terrari . .  224 

* John ; ib. 

* John  Anxh 225 

* John  Bapt. . . 226 

* Maj  k  Anth.  . 227 

*. Vendramino 2^7 

*Bianchlni,  Barth. .' : . .  Sfs 


v^ 

*■ 


L 


»•"< 

*• 


IND 

Page 

fBianchini,  Randii ..9iiB 

»  I  .  Joseph ....... 4  234  - 

♦ —  John • . . .  2S5 

*— ^-^ — ^-«  Joseph • . . .  ib. 

^Biancolini,  J.B.J.  ., 836 

^Bianconi,  J.  L 237 

♦Bias 288 

Bibbiena,F.G 239 

.f  Bibliander,  Theodore 240 

♦Bkhat,  M.F.  X 241 

Biddk,  John. -.242 

♦Bidermann,  J.  T. . ;  ..246 

BWloe,  Godfrey 247 

*Ble^  Adrian  de.. ........  ft49 

♦—Jacob ; .  250 

♦Biel,  Gabriel ib. 

♦—  John  Christian ib. 

tBielfield>  Baron  de ib. 

♦Bienne,  John 251 

Bierkander,  Claude   . .  252 

♦Big]and>  Ralph ib, 

Bigne,  G^ce  de  ia ib. 

■"    "  '  Margorien. 253 

Bignicourt>  Simon  de ib. 

Kgnon^  Jerome  ••.......  254 

♦B§ot,  Emeiic 256 

tBilfinger,  G.B 257 

♦BUgu^,  John  Ulrie 259 

Billaut,  Adam 1 «...  260 

*Billbeig,  John 261 

BilU> James ..,.  ..ib. 

••—Jesuit ih. 

♦Billing8ley>  Sir  Henry  ....  262 
fBilson,  lliomas ib. 

Bingham^  Joseph 265 

son 271 

♦——George r.272 

*Bini>  Severin 275 

Binning,  Hugh 27^ 

fBjoemstehl,  J.  J ib. 

fBion 277 

Biondi,J.F 278 

♦Birago,  F. ib. 

♦Birague,  Clement 279 

♦ Flaminio  de ib, 

tBii-ch,  Thomas ib. 

^Birchington,  Stephen 290 

♦Birckbek,  Simon ib. 

tBini,  William 291 

♦Biringuccio,  Vanucci 292 

♦Binnus  ,,*... « Ab. 


EX.  523 

tBirkenhcad .  .7.  •  7777. . . .  293 

♦Birkhead,  Henry  . . .  ^ 295 

♦Biscioni,  A&th.  M: 296 

♦Biscoe,  Richard 298 

♦Bishop,  Sam ib. 

♦ ^  William SCO 

♦Bissat,  Patrick  . ; 301 

♦Bisse,  Thomas 302 

fBtsset,  Cliarled ib. 

♦BitauM,  P.  Jeremiah  ....  304 

fBito 305 

♦Black,  Joseph ib. 

Blackall,  0£&pring 313 

♦Blackboume,  John  ......  315 

Blackburn,  William ib. 

♦Blackbume,  Francis 319 

♦— , John » 328 

f  Biacklock,  Thomas ib. 

fBlackmore,  Sir  Richard . . .  335 
fBlackstone,  Sir  William ...  340 

Blackwall,  Anth 356 

fBlackweU,  Ehz 358 

t  Thomas 360 

* George. .,. 365 

tBlackwood,  Adam 366 

* Henry.. ..... 367 

fBladen,  Martin 368 

tBlaeu,  William ib. 

Blagrave,  John . . .  J . ; . . . .  370 

+ — s —  Joseph 371 

♦Blair,  Hugh 872 

'  James :.....  378 

♦ .  John 379 

—  John 380 

♦ Patrick 381 

* ^  Robert ,.B8^ 

Blake,  John  Bradlqr 384 

■     .  .    Robert ,386 

♦ Thomas . . , 396 

♦Blancard,  Nich ib. 

♦-. Stephen .397 

Bfamchard,  James ib. 

fBianchet,  Francis.  ......  .398 

»  Thomas .......  400 

Bland,  Elizabeth ib. 

♦Bkmdrata,  George 401 

♦Blankenburg,  C.  F. 4<02 

♦Blankoff,  J.  T , 403 

♦Blase,  St ib, 

♦Bkyney,  Benj 404 

♦Blegny,  Nich. 40S 


584 


IHDXX. 


Page 
^Bless,  Heaiy.. . . . .' 406 

»8lQch,  MarkE 409 

•«*  ■  ■    Geoi^  C.  . . : 410 

«Block,  J-K ib. 

*Bloemart,  Ab 411 

f , r-Comiiiat, ......  ib. 

i»8k)nd,  Christ.  Le 4W 

Blondel,  David 413 

f^ ^-.  Fraiiisis 414 

^■■'*'it  I  ^  ■  J.  F.  .^ . .. -, 415 

•».«..,-, — .  Lawrence 416 

» ^      '  James  Aug , .  ib. 

fBlood,  Thomas ib. 

♦Bloot,  Petser 418 

rf- Blount^  CharleB ib. 

>t— Sir  Heoiy .422 

*^ John 426- 

f Sir  T.  P.  , 42T 

*»■■■■     M  Thomas 429 


fBlow,  John 4S0 

^Blum,  Joachim  Cfaiistiaii .  432 

tBluteau,  BaplMuel ib. 

«Boadicea 433 

«Bdate,  Gerard . , 455 

tBobart>  Jacob 436 

4 Boccaccio 437 

*Boccaccino 449 

^Boccage,  Mary^Anne 4^ 

tBoccalini,  Tnjan 451 

"^Boccherini^  Lewis 454 

*Bocchi>  AchiUes ....,»....  ib. 
* I  ■  I  Fi:ancis 456 


Page 

*Bocciardi»  Cfem«ftt . 4BS 

*Boccoiie>  Paul  .......*...  ib. 

iBoch,  John > .  > . . .  45B 

.  Bochart^  Samuel. ...>.. ^.459 

* r  de  Sarott 461 

^Bock»  Fred  Sam 462 

*Bockhor8t«  John  Van ...«%..  ib. 
fBocquillot*  Laz.  And*. .... 463 

♦Bode,  Chrbt.  Aug i^ 

*- John  J.  ChrisC 465 

tBodia>  John ib. 

ffiodley.  Sir  Thomas ......  468 

♦— Lawrence 483 

*-* Sir.  Josias 484 

^Bodmer,  John  Jameft  ^ , . . .  485 
fBoeder,  John  Henry .....  487 

*Boehm>  Ant.  William 489 

* : — Anfrew 490 

Bcehmen,  Jacob ib. 

^Boehmer^  George  R.  .....  494 

*■  Justin  H^nning . .  ib. 

Boerhaave,  Herman 495 

»  Abraham  Kaan  507 

*Boerner,  Christ  Fred.. .....  ib. 

Boethie,  Stephen  . . « 506 

fBoethius,  A.  M.  T.S 509 

-" Hector 514 

Bofirand^  Gennain 516 

"^Bogan,  Zacharjr 2>. 

*Bo0]en,  Martin 518 

Bohadin 519 

^^B<dm«  John. ......«..,»..  ib. 


END   OF  THE   FIFTH  VOLUME. 


NiebQU,  Sony  and  BsifTLBV,  PrU 
R«il  X^on  Pawtft,  Flod  Stmt,  UndoRk 


c